


One Captain and a Little Baby

by OurMoonLightRevels



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Kid Fic, M/M, Plotty, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 20:08:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 39,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9841928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OurMoonLightRevels/pseuds/OurMoonLightRevels
Summary: When Natasha and Clint find a terror plot that needs investigating by an individual with the abilities of a super-soldier, Steve has to go undercover to help them get to the bottom of what's going on.Steve finds in no particular order, a man who looks exactly like Bucky Barnes, a baby abandoned on the steps of a church, and a whole bushel of friends he makes along the way.Will they uncover the terror plot and save the world? Will Steve figure out what's happening with the man who looks like Bucky? And, most importantly how the hell do you change a diaper?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to extend the biggest thank you in the world to my beta, without who, this fic would be so very terrible. 
> 
> The story started life as a Bachelor Mother AU, but it mutated as I went, and turned something that doesn't really resemble that any more. But! Steve finding a baby and then having to deal with it was the driving force of it. So I hope I at least did that justice.
> 
> Full disclaimer: I'm 110% sure CPS do not work in this way. But fic needs must.

The mission had felt off from the start. Natasha was grateful for it. Adding extra security measures might be the only thing that kept them alive.

She swore and continued to sprint back to their base of ops. This wasn’t supposed to have been a high-risk mission. Fury had been monitoring a group suspected of trafficking munitions to an undercover network of terrorist cells. There’d been murmurings of an attack being planned for the holiday period, and this was the first time they’d caught a break, but even so this should have been a cakewalk. The team – Clint, Agents Smith and Jones and Natasha—had been tasked only to covertly observe the group and extract any intelligence they could.

The mission had been going smoothly. The team had camped out at a location scouted and secured by Natasha and Clint. Smith and Jones had been making decent progress in monitoring the group. They’d managed to identify eight members, and had uncovered their aliases and known associates. With that success, they’d moved to retrieving information from the heavily encrypted network the cell was working from, which was proving a much harder task, and required direct access to a computer linked to the network.

Natasha had managed to sneak into their main office. Clint was providing a distraction at the opposite end of the compound. Smith was on guard duty, monitoring their feeds and guiding Natasha to the computer they’d scouted as their best option. Jones was ready and waiting to crack into the network as soon as she had them synced.

She’d got the device in place, ready to piggyback on to their system. As soon as she’d received confirmation the link was working, she was out of there. Hastily made her retreat, only to be stopped short when one of her own bugs caught unexpected movement in their base.

“Smith, get Jones and get out of there,” Natasha said.

“Can’t. Jones needs another two minutes. What’s the problem?”

“Get out. I think there’s someone in there with you.”

“I’ll check.”

Natasha hated working with men who weren’t trained into doing what she ordered, when she ordered. Smith was likely to get him and Jones killed at this rate. She finally reached their base. She crept up the access route, on high alert for anything out of place. Two gunshots rang out. She ran full tilt to the room, while checking in on Clint.

“Clint, report,” she whispered into her comms unit.

“Busy right now.”

She breathed a sigh of relief that he was still alive.

“We’ve been made. Fall back to the extraction point.”

“On it.”

Natasha smiled, Clint knew better than to doubt her.

She picked up speed as she took the stairwell to the floor they’d camped out it. Slowing as she approached the door, which was half off its hinges. She could make out Smith’s prone form on the floor, bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the head. Fuck. She heard a scuffle and quickly moved, putting her back to the wall and out of line of sight from the open space. She’d heard two gunshots. Either Jones was alive in there or their attacker was.

Natasha grabbed a smoke grenade from her utility belt. She rolled it in the direction she’d heard the scuffle, only to hold back a gasp as a very familiar figure walked through the billowing smoke, seemingly unaffected. The Winter Soldier was here. Whatever they’d stumbled across must have been bigger than Fury knew.

She had to act quickly. Assessing the room, she pulled out a flashbang and threw it directly at the Soldier. He paused to bat it away. Giving her the seconds she needed to advance, head on. She drew both guns, one shooting at him to keep him distracted and the other behind him to blow the glass out of the window he was about to walk past.

Natasha was hopeful that she’d estimated his weakness correctly. She got within a foot of him, threw her guns and deployed her Widow Bites. Bringing her knee up, she hit him center mass, causing the Soldier to stumble. He easily grabbed hold of her, exactly as she wanted. He lifted her up and was about to throw her, when she brought her arms down sharply, the Bites finding purchase in his shoulders.

His metal arm malfunctioned at the volts ran through it. He shuddered in pain, giving Natasha the momentum she needed to regroup and deliver a solid push to his bulk. He overbalanced and fell out of the window. She rushed to see where he was, only to find him already gone.

Sprinting back into the room, she tried to warn Clint. “Clint, the Winter Soldier. Watch yourself.” As she rounded the corner to Jones’ workstation, Jones was slumped on her chair, gunshot wound to the head. Natasha didn’t have time for regrets. She scooped up the laptop and case, quickly heading to their rendezvous point.

The Soldier must have been waiting to follow her. She hadn’t seen or sensed him as she made her way to meet Clint, but as soon as she’d made contact he started to fire on them. Luckily they’d planned strategically enough that their escape car was backed up to a narrow entry, giving them the precious seconds they needed to get into the armored SUV and begin to make their escape.

Unluckily it didn’t stop The Winter Soldier from being fast and an excellent shot. He managed to mount the roof of the fleeing SUV and Natasha’s instincts once again saved them, as she pulled Clint out of the way, who gasped in pain as a shot blasted through the roof and clipped him. Natasha returned fire and heard the Soldier stumble as Clint hit the brakes, sending the Soldier flying behind them as they sped off to safety.

-

Natasha exited the lift to the lower level of the shared living room of Avengers Tower. She was wondering how she’d managed to sneak past the Tower’s security so well until JARVIS spoke up.

“Ms. Potts. I believe Agent Romanov is here to request a meeting with you and Mr. Stark,” JARVIS announced to the current occupants of the newly refurbished room.

She watched as Tony and Pepper exchanged a glance, before Pepper could answer, Tony cut in.

“What is it with these agents and their inability to stick to working hours?” he asked the room at large. The room and Pepper both declined to answer. “JARVIS, inform Miss Rushmore of my consulting hours and tell her to schedule an appointment.”

Natasha smiled to herself at his pettiness. You could always trust Tony for that.

“Sir, I’m afraid you updated the access protocols to allow entry to what you have entitled ‘Fury’s Band of Merry Men (And Natalie)’, and as such she is already on her way to the shared quarters.”

Clearly her ability to fool JARVIS was in excellent shape. She’d have to tell Stark the improvements he needed. Her biometrics got her most of the way here, but she’d still managed to fudge the system.

“This is what happens when you make friends, Tony, on occasion they actually visit you,” Pepper said, standing up and adjusting her clothes to look a little more presentable.

“Friends? Who said anything about friends? You save the world with someone, once, I might add, and what? That grants them an all access pass to your time and penthouse apartment without a by-your-leave?”

“It does when you, you know, actually give them an all access pass,” Natasha said, as she exited the lift, walking towards Pepper and tossing a sardonic grin at Tony. “It’s lovely to see you again Pepper,” she said, exchanging a brief handshake and passing her a data pad. “I brought Tony a gift.”

“It’s been too long, Nat. You should have come to visit sooner, heaven knows Tony made space for you all,” Pepper replied, taking the data pad and handing it over to Tony.

Tony immediately started flicking through the information, absorbed and no longer paying them any attention as he muttered to himself.

“JARVIS said you wanted to see the both of us?”

“Only to see if I can finally convince you to run away with me,” Natasha replied, titling her head in a flirtatious manner.

Pepper laughed as her statement caused Tony to start to splutter. “In that case, what are we waiting for?” she said, as Tony walked over to two of them.

“Stop trying to steal my Pepper, Agent. Or I’ll have you written up on a formal complaint,” Tony said, as he circled his arm around Pepper’s back, placing a proprietary kiss on her cheek.

Pepper laughed as she pushed him away.

“I'll leave you to it then,” Pepper said, scooping up her phone and heading for the lift. “Let me know if you need anything actually organized around here.”

Natasha took one look at Tony, whose attention had focused back on the data pad as soon as Pepper had left, and decided to take a tour of the wide-open space of the Avengers Tower living room. She had definitely seen worse places to call home, she thought, settling herself onto one of the strategically placed couches.

After ten minutes of semi-silence Tony joined her in the seating area. “So, what's up Red? Do I not rate a visit from Fury himself? Or a summons to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters?”

“The Director sent me to you for a few reasons, firstly because you're easier to keep on task if you don’t have shiny distractions-“

“Hey! I resemble that remark,” Tony interjected.

“Secondly because we think there is a leak in SHEILD, and we don’t know who we can trust,” she finished, taking in the exaggerated look of disbelief on Tony’s face.

“And not only do you think you can trust me, but you came to me before Captain Red, White and Blue as well?”

Natasha rolled her eyes at his theatrics. “For all your faults, Stark, you’re a known quantity. Fury’s got your number, and if we honestly did suspect you of links to terrorism, we’d have a bigger problem than we currently face.”

Stark’s face lit up at her admission. 

“Why don’t we take this from the top?” Natasha asked, rhetorically. “Two weeks ago Director Fury sent an elite team of agents, including Barton and myself, to monitor a group suspected of arming terrorist cells and to retrieve any pertinent data we could. After two days deep undercover, we were discovered. Now, I know we were secure. I did the work myself, and yet. Two days tells me someone knew something they shouldn't have, and I want to know who and why.” She was reluctant to mention the Soldier to Tony, unsure where he fit in the wider scheme of things.

Natasha crossed her arms over her chest. “Barton was injured in the escape. We were both lucky to get out of there alive. As it is, we lost two good agents, and the data we managed to collect is too heavily encrypted for me to decode. Fury doesn’t want it falling into the wrong hands, and since we don’t know who the wrong hands at SHIELD are, we’re doing this off the books.”

Tony started to pace, mentally digesting the Intel from the data file and from what he’d learned from Natasha. “So what do you want from me?”

“SHEILD can’t be seen as looking into this, and we can’t let SHIELD see us looking into it, so, I need you to see what you can find out,” Natasha said in a deadpan voice. Stark had a unique ability to annoy the hell out of her.  

“What will you be doing?”

“I’ve got an ancient relic to retrieve from Washington,” she said with a sardonic smile. If the Winter Soldier was involved, she was going to need all the enhanced help she could get, and who was more trustworthy than Captain America himself?

 “Good luck with that one, Lara Croft. The good Captain refuses to return to New York.”

“I have my ways.”

 

 

“Please Steve?” Romanov said, coy pleading threaded through her voice, “Pretty please? Please, please, please, please with a cherry on top?” She was walking backwards in an attempt to keep eye contact with Steve, somehow successfully managing to navigate the people behind her without seeming to glance around. It was impressive to say the least.

Steve laughed as she pouted at him some more. “But why do you want me to grow a beard?”

She tittered out a calculated, yet carefree laugh as she grabbed his arm and swung herself around so they were walking arm in arm down the street to the café they were heading to. “I told you, Barton bet me I couldn’t get you to do it.”

“That I believe. You asking outright instead of trying to con me into it is what I’m doubting,” Steve replied as he held the door to the café open for her.

“I heard Gina from accounting talk about how much she likes a bearded man, and I thought it couldn’t help to try,” she continued, smiling in response to the scowl Steve could feel stealing across his face.  “How long does it take you to grow one anyway?”

“Table for two?” A perky blond waitress interrupted, leading them to a corner booth when they nodded. “I’m Connie, and I’ll be your waitress today. What can I get you to drink?”

“Thanks, Connie, I’ll take an iced mocha, grandpa here is just desperate to try one of your old-fashioned ice cream sodas,” Natasha said, throwing a winning smile at their waitress, ignoring Steve as he rolled his eyes. As the waitress walked away Natasha reached into her satchel and placed a small device on the counter, quickly tapping something to activate it. “Short range disrupter,” she said noting Steve’s attention. “Means we can chat a little more freely, without being overheard.”

They sat in silence as Steve tried to figure out what Romanov’s play was. He worked with her enough to know that something serious was happening, and he wanted to know what.

“Two weeks,” Steve said in answer to her question.

“Huh. Is that all?”

“Yeah, it’s one of the curses of the serum. Heightened metabolism means everything goes about four times the rate it did before,” Steve said.

Romanov smirked at him some more. “Everything?” she insinuated, and then watched as Steve tried and failed to control his blush.

“Enough, Romanov, what do you want?”

Before Natasha could answer, Connie returned with their drinks. “Can I get you guys anything to eat?”

“No, thanks. We’re just here for a drink,” Natasha said as Connie sat their drinks down, a glass of iced coffee for Natasha and an over flowing ice cream soda for Steve.

Steve had to give her props; it at least looked like the ones he had shared with Bucky on the occasion they could afford it.

Natasha took a sip of her drink, ignoring Steve’s silence. “Did you ever ask that cute nurse from next door out?”

“Natasha,” he said, exasperated with her continued matchmaking. "Why are we here?” Steve questioned, his impatience running though his voice.

“Well, I just wanted to catch up. Plus, I’m on following a lead on a guy we suspect is going to be meeting here for an info drop,” she finally admitted.

It was Steve’s turn to roll his eyes. “If I’m supposed to be on a mission, I’d appreciate a heads up in the future.”

“Not on a mission, just backup in case things go really bad. Also, we think SHIELD has been compromised, and I need your help.” Natasha timed her comments so that Steve was taking a sip of his, admittedly, tasty soda.

He managed to swallow the spit take, but he almost wished he hadn’t bothered. He quickly glanced around, scoping out the room and turned back to Natasha to see her roll her eyes at him again.

“Subtle. Real subtle there, Rogers. Do you honestly think I’d talk to you about it if we weren’t secure? That’s why we’re here, and not at your place.”

“Hey! What’s wrong with my place?” Steve said indignantly, he checked for bugs thoroughly. Alright, he only did that because SHIELD had been very clear on the fact that he had a target on his back, figuratively, but he’d been religious about keeping check and securing the only place he had to call his own.

“I mean, this way I can be sure there aren’t any bugs without raising suspicions. Don’t be so offended. I’d be disappointed in SHIELD if they couldn’t bug you without you noticing. Not to be ageist or anything, but you are still a bit behind the times when it comes to tech.” She was smirking at him again. 

“Romanov, get to the point.” Steve didn’t have the patience for her normal fun at his expense, not if something serious was happening.

“In 2009 I was on a mission, Iran. Simple escort of a nuclear engineer that went south, the other guys sent an assassin known as the Winter Soldier. He shot out my tires, and then shot the engineer I was covering, straight through me. Soviet slug, no rifling. Now the intelligence agency doesn’t like to admit that he exists, and if I hadn’t encountered him with my own eyes I’d agree with them, no one has seen or at least reported seeing him since. He’s a ghost story.”

“What does this have to do with SHIELD?” Steve questioned.

Romanov caught and held eye contact with him as she explained the mission gone wrong and her suspicious about SHIELD. “So, in summary we know something is going down, we know it involves a leak at SHIELD and Clint knows the inside of SHIELD medical better than most.”

 “Is Barton alright? What happened?” Steve asked, worry tinting his words. He hadn’t been informed that an Avenger had been injured.

“Barton got shot, is what happened. He was driving the getaway vehicle when the Winter Soldier got him in the upper arm, luckily just a deep graze, so no lasting damage. But it was close, if it hadn’t have been for an unrelated drugs bust that had the police swarming the surrounding areas, we probably wouldn’t have managed it.”

“How do you think this all relates to a leak in SHEILD?”

“The time frame. It was a high priority op. No one other than Fury, the agents and a few committee members knew the details of the mission. And even if the Soldier had been working for the cell, which would be outside of his known MO, it was too soon of a time frame for him to find us.” The playful smile had dropped from Natasha’s face again as she relayed the details to Steve.

“So you think someone leaked the details, but who did they leak them to? Who does the Winter Soldier work for?”

“If I knew that, either I’d be dead or he would. That’s the situation.”

“Why come to me?”

“Well, if you can’t trust Captain America to do the right thing, who can you trust? And if the Winter Soldier is an accomplice in this, if he’s involved with a high level leak in SHIELD, I’m going to need all the help I can get.” Natasha maintained eye contact as she spoke to him, he didn’t know if that was her way of trying to show earnestness or to make him think she was being truthful, but either way he knew he’d be helping.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked after a moment of contemplation. In general he mostly trusted Romanov, she was secretive, and he knew that she could bend the truth when she needed to, and that she wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to him if she felt she needed to, but on this he trusted her entirely. If SHIELD was compromised, Steve owed it to Peggy’s legacy to get to the bottom of it. 

“Grow a beard. And then find an excuse to be in New York. But right now, I’ve got to go and take this moron out. You ok to get the bill?” She said, as she scooped her little device into her bag and followed the sketchy guy sitting across from them as he hastily got up and made to leave.

-

Steve was sitting on his sofa. He’d just finished a phone call to Fury to let him know he’d be out of Washington for a few days. He contemplated the story Natasha had told him, not entirely sure he’d been given the full picture. He so very rarely was when Natasha was involved.

He wasn’t looking forward to going back to New York, the entire reason he’d settled in Washington after the cleanup of the Chitauri was underway. He couldn’t face his own ghosts lurking around Brooklyn, and now it looked like he’d be going back to hunt down a ghost of Natasha’s.  Steve sighed, he guessed he was done running from that particular specter. It was probably time he laid it to rest anyway. Brooklyn, Bucky, the life he’d had in the past was long gone and it was time Steve moved on.

He’d packed his bag and paid a visit to Peg, trying to explain that he’d be gone for a few days. Although, how much use that would be when she regularly forgot he was back to start with wasn’t exactly clear. It broke his hear to see her so frail, when he knew just how strong she was. Even though he knew she had lived a full and wonderful life, it hurt to see the evidence. It’s not that he wanted her to pine after him, but the loss of something that to him was so close and yet so far tugged at something dark in him.

The nurses at her care home seemed to think his visits did Peg good for the most part, but that didn’t make the bad visits any better. Thankfully today had been a good visit, she’d been lucid and remembered he was back, and they’d spent the day reminiscing. He wished he could talk to her about the mission, but he knew he couldn’t tell her about SHIELD’s potential issues, firstly because if Natasha found out she’d give him a deserved chewing out, and secondly because if it was true, he didn’t want Peggy to know what was happing to her legacy. They did chat about SHIELD itself, Peggy was proud of the work she’d put into the organization, and her pride turned Steve from ambiguous to the mission at hand to resolute. If Peggy had put her heart into building SHIELD up, Steve was determined to protect it for her, now she could no longer do it herself.

He’d help get to the bottom of this and then come back, safe in the knowledge Peg’s hard work hadn’t been for nothing.

-

6am three days later found Steve hoping off of the delivery truck that had made a stop at the Avengers Tower. He waited until the driver had exited the truck with his load and Steve snuck around a conveniently placed wall until the individual had driven off and out of the loading bay. Steve sent a message to Natasha on the burner phone he’d picked up to let her know her “package” had arrived and set to loitering around the bay out of the way of the security cameras.

She stepped off of the freight elevator and gestured for him to join her.

“Thanks for the delivery,” she said, as the elevator started to rise.

“If you could just sign for it,” Steve said, attempting a joke that fell flat, but still caused a wry smirk of amusement from her.

“We’re meeting up in the official Avengers floor of the tower, Tony is already on his 5th cup of coffee today, although I’m doubtful he actually slept last night – so be braced for that.”

They switched to the private elevator to the penthouse suite to a secure back room.

“Captain! You finally hit puberty, how wonderful. Or wait, is this some attempt to mimic my, quite frankly, amazing facial hair? If so, I’m flattered, but it honestly takes a different class of man to pull of this iconic look.” Tony hit his stride as soon as Steve walked into the spacious room, casually waving about a data pad in the air.  

“What, you don’t like it?” Steve said, scratching the itchy stubble coming through, as he took a moment to look around the vast interior of the Avengers’ floor of the Tower. It wasn’t much to his tastes, but the stark chrome, black and glass theme was effective at highlighting how modern Tony was. Although personally it felt cold and unwelcoming to someone used to much smaller spaces, he could appreciate the architectural stylishness at the least.

“It’s weird to say the least. You’re Captain America, if you aren’t the definition of clean cut I’ll eat my own goatee.” Tony gestured. “Pick a pew, take a seat, and can JARVIS get you a drink?”

“I don’t know, can JARVIS get me a drink?” The last time Steve had been in the tower, JARVIS had only been the voice in Stark’s place, but Steve knew better than to assume that didn’t mean JARVIS could now be, well, anything if Stark was involved. 

“Anything your little heart could desire. Ice cream soda?” he offered.

“What is it with you people and ice cream sodas?” Steve said, glancing at Natasha and Tony, who were doing their best to appear innocent.

“They’ve got a bet going on.” A voice sounded from behind Steve, he glanced back to see Barton perched on the edge of a rail that ran around the upper level of the floor. His left arm was bandaged, but he didn’t seem to be struggling at all as he picked up a drink from the repulsor elevated drinks tray that had floated over to him, offering a tall glass. Steve shook his head, only Stark.

“On what? Who can annoy me the most?” Steve asked, waving a hand in greeting and worrying for Barton’s stability as he used his hand not currently holding a glass to wave back.

“Oh no, if that was the bet Stark would have won way before now,” Natasha said, climbing the stairs to the upper seating area, following after Stark.

Steve walked up to join them, only to find a plethora of screens scrolling through information faster than he could parse, and Tony flicking through something on a data pad at the speed of light.

“Is this the team?” Steve asked as he took a seat facing Tony and Natasha.

“Not quite, as we determine the extent of the leak in SHIELD, we’ve got potential back up there.” Natasha answered. 

“Banner, Thor?” Steve questioned, but Natasha was already shaking her head.

“Thor hasn’t returned since escorting Loki home and Banner…” She trailed off.

“Banner needed a break, and unless we find something that his specialties can help with, it’s not like we need the Hulk. I mean, we don’t, right?” Tony asked.

“Doubtful, and he’s not exactly practiced at espionage. Unless we find something that requires his skill set, leave him out of it.” Natasha concluded for the group. 

“So, what have we got?” Steve asked.

Barton swung around and hopped off the rail to come and sit with them.

“Capcicle, to recap: The lovely Miss Rushmore-”

Natasha groaned out, “Tony.”

“Came to pester me to check into a lead they found when doing super spy stuff. Which was interesting, because I’d already been looking into a related issue.”

Natasha shot Tony an unfriendly questioning look, that seemed to be news to her.

“About four weeks ago, JARVIS noted an anomaly in the power consumption from the Arc Reactor that powers the Tower. That’s not unusual, things happen around here all the time to cause power fluctuations.”

Pepper stepped out of the evaluator to join them, immaculately dressed in a white suit. “Normally they can be tracked back to a certain someone who decided to experiment when he knows better,” she said as she walked up the stairs.

“Perfect timing as always, dearest.” 

“Captain, it’s a delight to see you again. You really must let me take you around the gallery, now Tony has finally convinced you to visit,” she said, taking a seat with the group. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Ms. Potts, I’d be glad to take that tour, but ah. It may have to wait,” Steve said, shooting a glance around at the gathering and assuming Pepper had been brought into the confidence, since Tony hadn’t turned into a babbling mess, his normal indicator for bullshitting someone he cared for, and Natasha hadn’t jumped to change the subject.

“That it might,” she said, exchanging a polite smile with him.

“As I was saying, anomalies aren’t unheard of. The reactor powers the Tower, and any and all experiments that are going on, charging my suits, running complex data processing etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But! JARVIS, if you would.”

“Of course, Sir. The anomalies from Mr. Stark’s work and the Tower are easily traceable, or, at the very least, I am able to cross reference ongoing work within the tower to pinpoint if the anomalies are out of the normal or result of experimentation gone wrong that may need to be stopped.”

“Not so these new babies. See, at first it was a small amount of power, enough to charge a kettle. Then maybe run a washing machine. But always at the same time. Then boom. Spikes all over the place. The reactor can cope. It’s used to keeping power levels even and has protocols to ensure that surges and drains don’t affect us too badly. The worry is the amount of power being drawn.”

“Why is it a worry?” Natasha asked.

“Well, simply put, if that kind of power wasn’t going somewhere we’d know about the surges, because they’d be causing explosions. The fact that nowhere is reporting anything of the sort means that the power is being funneled into something. I don’t know what, yet. But I do know that it happens overnight, and it happens in the lower Manhattan area, conveniently close to the power grid for the Tower that runs, shockingly enough, directly under Macy’s main building, and stops there.”

“Macy’s? You're trying to tell me you think Macy’s is planning a terror attack? That is not good.” Clint added, helpfully. “Not only is SHIELD compromised, potentially high up in the food chain, but we have reason to believe that they have ties to the Winter Soldier and whatever the basement of Macy’s is cooking up? Can I sit this one out?”

“Yes.” Natasha said, Clint sat up straight, mouth opening to protest. “I’ve got a plan, and you being out of commission is part of it.” At that, he shut his mouth and slouched back into his chair, arms crossed and pouting.

“Let’s hear it then.” Steve said, cutting off whatever bickering Romanov and Barton were about to engage in.

“We’re facing a number of problems. Firstly: we’ve got two sides of this to solve, as Clint so helpfully pointed out. One, who is the leak and how do they have ties to the Winter Soldier and two, what the hell is happening at Macy’s. We don’t have the support of SHIELD, Stark helps, but he can’t replace an entire governmental body with unlimited funds and time-”

“Says who!” Tony interjected, outraged at the slight of his genius to be compared with SHIELD and found lesser than.

“Fury is looking into the leak, there’s not much we can do about that other than monitor and report anything we find out. Not unless we want people questioning why Tony Stark and Captain America are poking around SHEILD business, and we really don’t. So we need to focus on Macy’s. Other than the power, have you been able to find anything else out?” Natasha asked Tony, as he and Pepper shared a glance.

Tony got up to pace. “We tried. I had JARVIS start to monitor any publically available feeds that cover Macy’s and the surrounding areas, we didn’t get much. Some unusual shipping itineraries, which we linked back to the original scraps of data you brought us. However, that didn’t lead far – a few shell companies that JARIVS is in the process of tracking. But before we could get much further out feeds started to be tampered with, so I’m currently playing cat and mouse over getting eyes anywhere inside. Who knew Macy’s security would be so technologically state of the art?”

“I paid a visit to an old friend who was on the Macy’s board, but no dice. Either certain higher-ups don’t know what’s going on, or Stu has really changed. I did manage to get him to help me out though, I can get someone on the inside for you,” Pepper said, smiling around at the group.

“Inside how?” Natasha asked.

“I mentioned I had a down on their luck graphic designer friend who was looking for work, and who, unfortunately I couldn’t offer a role to myself because Stark Industry’s design team has just been relocated to Malibu. Stu was falling over himself to get his hands on someone I’d employ and offered my unlucky friend an intern position on a trial basis, I mean, I’m not sure how much maneuverability it’ll give you, but it was the best I could get. That is, assuming it’s Steve your sending in? I guessed it might be, since you were in a rush to find him,” Pepper said smugly.

Natasha sat up straighter at Pepper’s announcement. “Ms. Potts, once again, you save the day,” she said, turning to Steve with a glint in her eye.

“I guess that’s where the beard comes in?” he asked.

“Yep! If the soldier is about, he knows what Clint and I look like, he also probably knows our SOP as well, if the SHIELD leak is true. You’re our only hope, Cap. And not just for that reason, I have reason to believe that the Soldier is an enhanced individual, like Cap. I can and have fought men his size with ease before, but his speed and strength don’t make sense unless he’s enhanced,” she added. “Especially when you add in the metal arm.”

“So that’s our plan. We send Steve in undercover, and hope for the best while Stark tries to work his mojo on figuring out what’s going on?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

-

They spent the rest of that evening hashing out their plan of attack.

Steve, and his beard, were going to be moving into an apartment in Clint’s building which gave them an excellent set up for cover support. The fact that Clint had an apartment building came as a surprise to Steve, but he figured at this point rolling with it was the only option.

Pepper confirmed with Stu, who followed through with his offer, and Steve was set to join the intern program at Macy’s in a week’s time.

Tony and Natasha went about setting up an ironclad alias for him, in between that Natasha attempted to cram several decades of espionage training into a week. It wasn’t going well.

“NO! Steve, do not look DOWN when you’re lying. Up, look up and to the right if you have to, that gives the impression you’re searching your mind for an answer, not lying through your teeth. And stop covering your mouth up. Surely the beard does that for you?”

It really wasn’t going well, but he was confident that he could pull it off even if lying wasn’t his strongest skill. He coached himself into thinking that this was a life that he could have led, maybe, if things hadn’t happened as they had and dedicated himself to his alternative reality.

Amid the many lessons Natasha was attempting to beat into him, Steve settled into his new life and alias and started to draw again. Pepper had the genius idea to commission him for a piece of artwork, so that Steve would have reason to visit the Tower on a regular basis. But that meant he had to dust off some skills that were even rustier than his lying.

Steve hadn’t spent much time in New York since his extended stay at Fury’s cabin in the woods, other than when Avengers or SHIELD business brought him here. He had been content to keep it that way, while New York’s core seemed to remain the same, Steve couldn’t help feel like his perception was skewed when he spent time there.

He’d started walking round the neighborhood, taking time to learn the area and reacquaint himself with drawing, finding things of interest to sketch. He was busy with pre-mission prep but being stuck maintaining an alias had him faced with something he rarely had, a surplus of downtime. Which wasn’t doing wonders for his equilibrium. As he wandered around New York it was as if the shining present of the city overlaid the fading past in his mind. It was disconcerting to say the least, to expect to see a store he’d visited in his past and see something completely different in his future. Not that he’d spent much time in New York, but he’d visited enough for all the changes time had wrought to ring wrong with him.

He’d made the mistake of venturing back to Brooklyn only once, where he’d found himself almost overwhelmed by the sense memories that seemed to cling to the air everywhere he walked. It was like rambling though a living photobook, the memories of this alley or that park, there but not right, everything slightly off like a nightmare, where you couldn’t pin down what was incorrect with the view you had, but the creeping sense of fear that something was wrong and wouldn’t go away. He’d spent the entire time glancing back to look for Bucky, hurt every time he caught himself doing it. He was trying his best to stop it. He couldn’t keep dwelling in the past.

It was why he’d requested a transfer, at least in Washington DC, he didn’t see ghosts every time he turned a corner.

-

Steve arrived at the correct floor at Macy’s at 8am as requested. The ill-fitting black suit Natasha insisted that he wore made him feel as small as he ever did back before the serum. His beard was trimmed and a pair of golden-rimmed glasses were perched on his nose. If it worked for Clark Kent, it might help, and Steve was willing to take any help he could get. He was proud that he’d managed to sneak past Natasha one morning while she was fetching them both coffee, it hadn’t taken her long to clock him, but it was a much better attempt than some he’d seen.

But even though he had been wandering around for a week using his new name – William King—and had not been recognized even once, it was still possible someone might recognize him and blow the op before he could get anything useful to report back.

Luckily the suit, the undercover operation nerves, and years of pre-serum muscle memory of walking hunched over had Steve moving like he was trying to shrink into himself. Like he wasn’t 260lbs of muscle and serum-enthused physique.

There were a bunch of new hires loitering around the same area, so Steve joined them, keeping to himself as a manager stepped out. “Hello new interns! It’s great to have you here, hopefully you’ve already received your introduction packs?”

He received a round of “Yes Sirs!” and enthusiastic nodding in return.

“Excellent. Then, let’s get you paired up to begin your induction day.”

Steve’s induction day consisted of a mind numbingly boring amount of paper work, signing contacts and codes of conduct and what felt like a million other forms, before sitting through a Health and Safety video that Steve was fairly sure could be used to torture information out of people. The morning concluded with Steve having a laminated pass printed and being escorted up to the offices and dropped at a desk with a stack of work.

A harried looking woman rushed over to him a few minutes later. “You the new intern? Great, there’s a stack of files on your desk. The big one on top details our preferred styles, fonts etc. get to know that before you do anything else. I’ve left a few things that could do with reviewing. Before I put you on any serious work, I want you to go over them and give me recommendations. If you manage that, we’ll see what I feel you’re ready for next.” She was gone before he even got her name. 

A fellow intern took pity on him, “That’s Denise. She’s in charge of Graphic Design, she doesn’t mean to be the worst boss in the world, it just comes naturally to her. I’m Santiago, if you need any help, just give me or Pricilla,” he said pointing to a woman sat a few desks away, “a shout.”

Steve nodded his thanks and sat down at his desk, gratified that all of the computer lessons he’d taken paid off as he opened up his computer and got to work. Never had Steve been more grateful for his brief stint in poster design back in 1927, he had a least a small amount of office experience, even thought it was vastly different to this.

-

Steve’s first week as William King, Macy’s newest Graphic Design intern, took a lot more out of him than he anticipated. It wasn’t so much the actual work, which was demanding and challenging in a way he hadn’t expected, but keeping up a charade for such a prolonged period of time was taxing. It helped that a lot of his cluelessness could be put down to being the new guy, and that the office staff seemed only too happy to give him points about everything, from where to get the best lunch to how to unjam the printer in the design office.

He was lucky that his fellow interns seemed to want to get on with work outside of helping him get settled in to his role, the only social obligation that he’d been forced into had been a casual Friday drinking session where Santiago and Pricilla had happily exchanged horror stories about Denise, and all that she had taken from them in their time with her.  

Two weeks into the internship, Steve had successfully planted bugs in a few key locations, though they had yet to yield any decent information. Yesterday, he had managed to sneak off and investigate the basement area that the team suspected might be hosting Macy’s power sucking activities, while looking for the supply room with the printer toner he needed. Though the fact that he now knew what printer toner was was a source of amusement. Steve Rogers, company man, Buck would have got a kick out of that.

Unfortunately, a guard spotted Steve before he managed to get out of the way, leading to some uncomfortable questions. He’d managed to bluff his way out of any serious consequences, by playing on the fact that he was new and very lost and extremely grateful to the guard, who escorted him to the nearest elevator and kept a close watch as he entered it. He’d learned a few useful things about the layout of the building, and the fact that the area was under constant guard told him they were on the right track. It also told him that he wasn’t getting back down there without assistance or without blowing his cover.

When he relayed his discovery to Natasha, she’d refocused his efforts on trying to access the offices that had recently (and suspiciously) taken up residence on the upper floor of the building. Which found him loitering around the staff room on the upper floors, attempting to find and befriend someone outside of his fellow interns. He’d managed a modicum of success, when one of the assistants took him under her wing, casually inviting him to spend his lunch break with a few of her fellow support staff, whenever he was around for his lunch break. Steve was grateful for his luck, and surprised himself with how much he enjoyed her company. She was unlike anyone he had interacted with before, and when he confessed that he’d never seen the TV shows she liked to chat about—in between despairing about her good-for-nothing son—she’d sent him a list of things that he simply must watch. It made Steve’s evenings a little more entertaining, coming home from work, watching TV. He guessed it was as close to ‘normal’ as he was ever going to get.

Outside of this poor showing, he had relatively little success in finding out anything other than the fact Jacquelyn (assistant to the very important new Head of Efficiency, whatever that meant) and Jacob (general nuisance and part of the internal communications team) both had major crushes on the aforementioned Head of Efficiency and Security, Thomas Clinton.

Jacob was on his third round of lovingly detailing Mr. Clinton’s many excellent assets. Namely his ass, but also his eyes, his thighs, his hair and the way he smiled.

Steve shook his head as Jacob continued to wax rhapsodically about the guy. He glanced up when the break room door swung open. Steve nearly choked when James Buchanan Barnes walked through the door and towards their table. He had the exact same cocky smile on his face, and the way he sauntered across the room triggered memories Steve wasn’t even aware he had. He stopped by them to talk to Jackie, not even two feet away from Steve, without even looking in his direction.

“Excellent work on the working hours report, Jackie. I’ve just come from a meeting with Mr. Sykes, and he was very impressed,” he said with a wink.

Steve sucked in a breath wrong—almost inhaling his mouthful of pastrami on rye—to hear Bucky speaking, his Brooklyn accent rolling off of his tongue, while he innocently charmed Jackie.

Jacob clocked Steve’s shocked look and shot him an I-told-you-so look as Jackie exclaimed how happy she was that her work had been well received.

Lucky for Steve, once the pleasantries were exchanged, Bucky walked back out of the break room, before Steve could do something stupid. Steve and Jacob both watched him walk out of the room. Jacob leaned over to Steve in a confidential manner.

“Told you it was a magnificent ass! And those thighs. When he’s distracted he licks his lips and he looks like a sexy frog,” Jacob said, fanning himself, seemingly immune to how absurd he sounded.

“You ok hun? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost?” Jackie said, as she rejoined their conversation.

Steve managed some kind of noise of agreement, Jackie had got that spot on. He sat reeling from the shock, and felt the hairs on his arms rise up in goose bumps as the astonishment coalesced in his mind. Jackie was right. A ghost had just walked right up to him. Murmuring an excuse he fled from the break room. What the fuck was going on?

By the time Steve, on autopilot, made it back to his section desk, he had almost refocused enough of his senses. He had at least rationalized all of the reasons it was a bad idea to go charging up to the offices, pin the man who looked Bucky down and demand an explanation.

There was something off with this entire op. Most of it could be attributed to the polite smile, completely lacking in recognition that Mr. Clinton had shot Steve on his way out of the breakroom, but not all of it.

 

The fact that he looked so much like Bucky had Steve going round in circles. Could it be Bucky? If Steve hadn’t lived through the wonders and terrors that he had, he might have doubted himself that the person sat in front of him was his Bucky. He might have thought that some random fluke of genetic chance and happenstance collided to make Tommy Clinton the spitting image of Bucky. But Steve had lived through being frozen in time, fighting an army of other worldly aliens, and meeting not one, but two gods of myth and legend with god knows what else to come. So there was no doubt in his mind that this man was Bucky, even if Bucky didn’t seem to know that. Steve, who could admit that he struggled with emotions at the best of times, really couldn’t get a handle on what he was experiencing now. Joy was dancing through him at the tiniest potential that Bucky was somehow still alive, but fear and confusion reined.

The rest of Steve’s day was spent in a blur of prints and corrections, interspersed with the occasional meeting, with colleagues tutting at him when they had to call his name multiple times before fully catching his attention. After a few rounds of that, Steve noticed with shock that his normal enhanced reactions and situational awareness seemed to be failing him, and he pulled himself together enough to pay attention to his surroundings.

Steve needed to get out of here. He grabbed his coat and made his way downstairs to the bustling street.

He’d only made it half a block away before he heard a shout of “Stop!” as a young man in a hoodie came flying past him and down a cross section. Reacting on instinct Steve grabbed out and stopped him in his tracks, spinning him and pinning him against a wall, all with one singular movement.

A second guy caught up with the pair. “Hey whoa, you mind letting up on my friend?” he asked in the same voice that he’d heard shouting stop moments ago. 

Steve relaxed his grip, but didn’t let go as he turned to the man that had spoken.

“He was just trying to get away from me, honestly, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” the guy said, correctly guessing what was going through Steve’s mind.

Steve tentatively let go, if there had been some wrong doing, he was sure others would have confirmed it now.

“What’s going on here?” Steve asked, not quite able to let it go.

“Sorry man, I was overstepping, trying to help this kid and spooked him. No harm, no foul. So, why don’t you just let him go?”

Steve realized that he hadn’t quite managed to unclench his fist and let go. As soon as he had, the kid took off again.

“Ah fuck,” the other guy said. “Sorry about that, he’s the son of my sister’s neighbors, something or other, he ran away from home a few weeks ago and when I saw him on the street, I thought I might be able to get him to come back with me, didn’t mean to drag you into it. Sam Wilson,” Sam said, holding his hand out to Steve.

“William King, sorry if I overreacted there, I just heard your shout and…” Steve trailed off, the guy who looked like Bucky had really thrown him for a loop.

“Nah, no worries. Any other day in NY and you’d have probably been stopping some poor old lady getting mugged.” Sam smiled kindly at Steve. “You know, you look familiar. Any chance I’ve seen you down at the VA on 28th and Main?”

Steve shook his head. “No, it’s—it’s not something I’ve really considered before. How’d you know I was military?” he questioned.

“I’m trained for it, plus when you see a dude react like that there’s a good chance he’s military or a cop.” He smiled reassuringly at Steve, “You ok man?”

Steve laughed at himself, and how disorientated he was today. Thankful that Sam had the compassion to see a person in need and try and help. “Yeah, sorry. Just had an intense afternoon. I hope I didn’t scare the kid,” Steve said, reaching up to clench a fist in his hair. He needed to get a grip.

“I don’t think he scares that easily, either way, I don’t think you made things any worse. You sure you’re ok?”

“Yes. Guess I just needed shaking out of my head. This definitely managed that,” he said.

“No problem. Look, it’s none of my business, and normally I wouldn’t do this, but if you ever do feel the need to talk, the VA is really great. Tell ‘em Sam sent you, and they’ll try to help,” Sam said, handing Steve a small card with the VA details.

Steve took the card and shook Sam’s hand again.

“I’ll think about it. Thank you.”

Sam nodded and headed off, and Steve retreated back to the office.

Steve’s job rarely took him up to the offices for the Heads of Departments and such, so he was surprised when Jacob appeared in the middle of the afternoon, with a solemn look on his face. “Hey William, I’ve been sent to bring you up Mr. Clinton’s office,” he said, attempting to shoot Steve a supportive smile, but Steve could tell something was up. They travelled up to the office together in strained silence, Steve’s attention finally back on track.

When they arrived, Jacob directed Steve to take a seat outside of the biggest office in the area. He sat taking in his surroundings. Steve contemplated if something could have gone wrong to blow his cover. If he was about to be discovered and possibly end up in a fight, he needed to know his enemy and his location. The office was open plan, and the staff working away at their desks didn’t seem to pose a physical threat to him, if he really needed to get out of there quickly, he couldn’t see there being much of a problem. If it came to it, there were plenty of windows and they weren’t that high up. He’d made worse jumps. If it was something else, he doubted his cover was going to last for long anyway.

Before he could work out the logistics of which window would be easiest to get to and through, he was interrupted by Buck-Mr. Clinton poking his head around the door of the office, calling for ‘William King’. His eyes widened as they landed on Steve, as if he wasn’t expecting Steve to be William, which gave Steve a thrill. Maybe Buck did recognize him, but it wasn’t safe to say so?

“Mr. King?” Bucky queried as he shook Steve’s hand.  “Nice to meet you. I’m Thomas Clinton, but please call me Tommy,” he said, ushering Steve into his office and into a seat in front of an imposing desk covered in state of the art technology.

Steve tried to focus as Tommy rounded the desk to take a seat. He watched as Tommy unbuttoned his suit jacket and smoothed down his shirt as he took his own seat. Steve’s eyes flicked around Bucky, quickly landing on all of the familiar and unfamiliar points that he could see, taking in every detail of Bucky’s appearance and cataloguing it as if he’d never see it again.

It wasn’t just that he looked and moved like Bucky, because there were definitely differences from the Bucky that Steve had watched fall off of the train. He was broader in the shoulders for one and his gait seemed to lean slightly to the right, as if he was compensating for something. But the small details told a story from a lifetime ago. The small scar on his hand that he’d got dragging Steve out of a dumpster when he’d tried and failed to stop the O’Doyle boys from kicking a stray cat. The way his eyes crinkled at the edges.  The confident smile that stole across his face as he caught Steve looking him up and down. Steve looked away, wishing that he wasn’t prone to blushing.

Tommy cleared his through, smile dropping from his face. “I’m afraid I’ve some bad news, Mr. King. When you started your internship with us, one of the many papers you signed was a code of conduct. Do you remember signing this?” he questioned.

Steve nodded his head in agreement. He’d spent half an afternoon filling out forms and completing a health and safety training course.

“Section 13 detailed the areas that office staff are permitted entrance to, and subsection 4C specifically outlined that the basement areas were off limits to all employees, unless specifically given written permission. Is this familiar to you?”

Steve nodded again, finally getting where this was going.

“Yesterday afternoon, you were found wandering around in the basement—“

“But!” Steve interjected, “I’m sorry. I got lost looking for the storeroom with the toner, I must have got turned around. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“I’m also sorry, Mr. King, but due to the nature of your contract, I’m afraid this means that you are going to be dismissed, effective immediately,” he stated, maintaining eye contact and attempting to be sympathetic towards Steve.

“No. Please, it was an honest mistake. I really need this job, Mr. Clinton. Please, don’t fire me,” Steve pleaded, knowing that this was the only way access to Macy’s they currently had. He couldn’t lose this job because Bucky was here, and if Bucky was here Steve needed to be here too, mission be damned.

“My hands are tied. As much as I would like to let you off with a warning, the higher ups have been very clear on the consequences of anyone straying out of bounds. It’s for your safety, more than anything else, but there’s nothing more I can do. You’ll be paid until the end of the day, but you will be escorted to collect your belongings and leave the premises. We can have your paycheck ready by tomorrow, so you are welcome to collect it, or we can send it in the post to the address we have on file. I’m sorry Mr. King.”

Steve sat in shock. He’d well and truly blown their only access to the offices. And lost his chance to find out what was going on with Bucky.  He needed to figure out a way out of this, or at least figure out an excuse to see Bucky again. He couldn’t lose him just as soon as he’d found him. As Steve paused, lost in recrimination, Bucky stood and re-buttoned his suit jacket as he walked around the desk to Steve, clasping him firmly on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry, buddy, I disagreed with firing anyone this close to Christmas, but I don’t have any wiggle room.” He gave Steve’s shoulder a squeeze that had Steve dropping his head to his hands, in an attempt to hide the expression on his face from Bucky.  “Come on pal, let’s not make a scene,” he said, giving Steve’s shoulder a push in an effort to move him. Grunting as Steve didn’t budge an inch.

Steve pulled himself up and out of the chair, shrugging out of Bucky’s grasp as he started to make his way to the door, where two burly security guards had appeared. Steve cast a backwards glace at Bucky, who was standing with a puzzled look on his face, as he followed the guards to collect his belongings and exited the store.

By the time Steve was on the street and contemplating contingency plans, his phone had already buzzed with 5 messages. One from Jackie expressing her sympathies and 4 from Jacob ranting at the injustice of Steve’s dismissal. Steve heaved a sigh and sent replies to them both, before orientating himself and heading towards the Tower.

Luckily he had a ‘review’ scheduled with Pepper to look at the commission she had asked William King to work on as a cover for him visiting the Tower if he needed it. So at least he had a good enough reason to be heading there. Hopefully they could work out a plan based on the scant amount of information he’d managed to gather.

He couldn’t focus on the next steps though, his mind drifting between the events of the day. Bucky was alive. Steve had to believe that Bucky was alive. His brain careened through any other reason that Bucky could be walking around the Macy’s office. Clones? He remembered Tony mentioning something about that. It could be a viable solution, but it couldn’t explain the similarities. But if not that, then how was Bucky alive and well in this day and age? Jesus, his head and heart felt like they were going to combust.  

As Steve marched towards the Tower, he caught something on the periphery of his sight. He covertly glanced in the direction of the disturbance and saw a woman carrying a bundle up the stairs of a small church across the road. Steve didn’t know why she’d pinged his radar until she quickly set the bundle down and started running away.

Steve was off and across the road without consciously thinking about it, vaulting over an oncoming car and landing on the sidewalk to the blare of the car’s horn. He looked to track the woman, but she had managed to disappear in the bustling crowd. On high alert, Steve rushed for the abandoned bundle, fearing the worst. It wouldn’t be the first attack on religious soil in recent memory, and if there was any chance that she’d placed a bomb, then Steve was the only one around who could hope to stop anything terrible from happening.

He took the church steps three at a time, coming to a stop just as the bundle started to ...move? It rolled towards the stairs. Acting on instinct, Steve scooped the bundle up. He almost dropped it when, instead of the anticipated heavy weight, a tiny wriggling baby peeped out at him and started to cry as soon as he saw Steve’s face.

Steve stood in shock with the small screaming baby carefully cradled in his arms. He suddenly panicked, weren’t you supposed to support the head or something? Rearranging the baby as best he could, Steve heard the church door open. He glanced up at the nun, who stood frowning down at him.

“What do you think you’re doing, young man?!” she snapped in an Irish accent, threaded through with disappointment.

At the sound of her voice Steve felt, for the second time that day, like he had been thrown into the past. But instead of the confused delight that seeing Bucky had brought, this time ice-cold dread crept down his spine. 10 years of being scolded in the exact same manner echoed through his head.

“I…I...I just,” Steve stammered, feeling like he was 5’ 4” and 95lbs again.

The nun tapped her sensible shoe at him and clicked her tongue. “Hmm. You wouldn’t be the first to try it, get some poor woman knocked up and then abandon it here when it’s too much like hard work. Well, not today, mister. You can’t leave that baby here,” she concluded.

“I wasn’t,” he tried to say.

“Quite right you weren’t. A child is a solemn responsibility, you can’t just abandon it on the steps of a church when things get difficult.” She glanced down at Steve, who must have looked as shell-shocked as he felt. “We can offer some food from our food bank, maybe a few blankets and toys,” she said, finding some Christian charity in herself.

Steve shook his head in disbelief, and the nun took it as a dismissal, finally shooing him off.

Steve walked down the steps with the baby in his arms, stopping on the last step as he glanced back to find the nun sternly watching him to make sure he did leave. Steve gathered the child closer, noting that the nun seemed to have scared it…him…her? Not that he could blame the kid for that. He set off towards Avengers Tower at a much slower pace, trying to make sure the baby was safe and didn’t get bumped into on the way. He really hoped someone at the Tower was going to be able to help, because this was well out of his range of expertise. 

Upon being escorted up to the living quarters of the Tower, he quickly learned that babies were outside of everyone else’s area of expertise as well. Natasha took one look at the child, gave Steve an outright look of distrust, and settled herself as far away as possible, while still being in talking distance. Pepper came to the rescue, gently taking the child from Steve, and casually settling it on her hip, causing Tony to blanch and whimper.

They all took seats and exchanged a glace, no one quite knowing where to start.

“So,” Natasha began and then stopped cold.

“They sell babies at Macy’s now?” Tony questioned, still looking on in horror as Pepper bounced the child with ease and finesse, cooing over it as she did.

“No,” Steve said irritably. The events of the day were finally catching up to him. “But apparently you can’t leave a baby at a church anymore?”

All three heads turned to stare at Steve with puzzlement. 

“Steve, maybe you should take this from the top and explain how you arrived at our team meeting with a baby,” Natasha said in a tone that implied that Steve better start explaining what the hell had happened.

“Sir,” JARVIS interrupted before he could get started. “Should I scan the child to determine if it poses any threat?”

“What! It’s just a baby,” Steve exclaimed, retrieving the kid from Pepper and resettling back on the sofa, protectively balancing him on his knee while he tried to replicate Pepper’s bouncing trick.

“A baby YOU conveniently found and brought to the Tower? JARVIS, scan away. Tell us what you know, oh AI of mine.”

“Certainly sir. The child appears to be male, using statistical data available on the subject, I approximate he is around 6 to 9 months of age. No dangerous foreign bodies, inorganic material or bugs detected,” JARVIS concluded.

“That was unnecessary, Tony.”

“Well, now we know that for sure, want to explain how you became the proud owner of an infant?”

Steve didn’t know what to start with: the baby, the fact that he’d been fired, or the fact that his best dead friend from 70 years ago was potentially not dead and currently embroiled with whatever plot was going down at Macy’s.

He figured the baby was the safest place to start and proceeded to explain how he came to be in possession of the kid. At least that much he felt safe in discussing.

20 minutes, a round of drinks, and a call to CPS later found the team—with Clint conference called in so he could stay in the loop—in a slightly better frame of mind. Well, at the very least they’d made steps to resolve Steve’s baby situation.

Now for bombshell number two, Steve thought to himself. How exactly did you tell a group of people, even this group of people, who had more than the normal amount of experience with the extraordinary, that you think your best friend is back from the dead? Steve wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to trust them with the information. He wished that he had chance to investigate and draw his own conclusions about Bucky’s involvement. But with the sudden firing, that was out of the window.

Steve took a deep breath, and then haltingly explained that afternoon to them, trying to keep his emotions in check and not lash out when Natasha shot him a look that clearly said she thought he was finally cracking. He pushed through the pain and explained the things he knew that his Bucky and the Bucky in that office had in common, the scar, the walk, the smile. Natasha was adamant that Steve was just projecting what he’d seen onto someone similar to his friend, and said as much to him. Steve’s feelings were in turmoil, either Natasha was right and it wasn’t Bucky or it was Bucky, but he just didn’t know Steve. Steve couldn’t decide which one would hurt more, so tried to push it aside and focus on the mission. Bucky aside, they still had to figure out what was going on.

The group seemed less sure about Steve’s long lost buddy, as Tony so candidly framed it, and he could tell they thought he was losing the plot. That was until JARVIS brought a file picture of Bucky up on one of Stark’s many screens. Natasha let out a noise of genuine shock when she saw it.

“Steve? That’s Bucky?” she asked.

“Yes,” Steve answered, faintly smiling at the image as he walked around, bouncing the sleeping child in his arms. They’d managed to feed him some milk that JARVIS had researched and had delivered to the penthouse, and he seemed content to nap some more while Steve cradled him.

“Then we may have bigger problems. Steve, I think Bucky is The Winter Soldier.”

Stunned silence met Natasha’s proclamation. Steve was already shaking his head in denial.

“No,” he said, staunchly. Bucky couldn’t be The Winter Soldier. Bucky wouldn’t do that, he wouldn’t kill people for money, not in cold blood and not on for the types of missions Natasha had told him about. Bucky was a good man, loyal, protective and caring to a fault. He might have pulled Steve out of more fights than either of them could count, but he’d fought alongside him when it was right to do so. Bucky wouldn’t. 

“Steve, I can see you don’t want to hear this, but I swear, that’s the guy who shot me in Odessa. Look at me, look at my face. I wouldn’t lie to you, not about this.”

Steve made eye contact with her, and he could see that she believed what she was telling him, but Bucky couldn’t be the Soldier. Maybe his clone theory had more weight that he’d given it. He still felt the need to deny it. “It can’t be him, Natasha. Bucky was the best of us, he wouldn’t do the things The Winter Soldier had, not to innocent people.” 

Steve flashed back to the meeting in Bucky’s office this morning, his mind focusing in on the broader shoulder Steve had noticed, the fact that his gait was off, tilted as if compensating for a heavy weight. His heart sank. There was a chance, but still Steve couldn’t believe that Bucky could be The Winter Soldier.

Natasha made to say something more, but was interrupted.

“Excuse me, Sir, CPS has dispatched agents who are on route as we speak. They are expected to arrive within ten minutes.”

“Already?”

“Yes, Sir, they were of the belief that as the call came from Avengers Tower it was of upmost importance and are sending agents.”

“This is good. We can hand the kid off and focus on more important matters,” Natasha said. “Steve, just remember your cover with CPS and stick to the story you told us. Tony, let’s get out of the way, you can take me through what you’ve found so far and I’ll go through what we’ve got on the Soldier.”

Natasha and Tony made a quick exit to one of the personal labs, leaving Steve, Pepper and the child waiting for the agents to arrive.

Steve looked down at the kid, who was, miracle be, still sleeping soundly. It seemed the day had worn him out as much as it had worn Steve down. Steve hadn’t really had time to deal with everything that had happened, but looking down at the kid he felt a tug at his heartstrings, knowing that he was about to be handed over to Children’s Services. Steve wished he had managed to speak to the woman who needed to abandon such an adorable and well-behaved kid. Steve was sure he could have helped her in some way.

Pepper met the agents at the elevator once they had arrived, and Steve tried his best to explain the situation to them, even though it was the exact truth, he could tell that neither of them fully believed William King and his story.

“So, William, you’re stating that after being fired from your job at Macy’s you were walking to your appointment with Ms. Potts, and saw this child being abandoned? And, rather than contacting the NYPD or CPS at the time, you brought your child with you to a meeting with Pepper Potts, and only then did you think about calling the authorities?” Agent Jenkins asked. He looked like a friendly guy, but his eyes were pure steel.

“Yes,” Steve answered, not quite able to hold his gaze.

“Son, you are aware that abandoning a child is considered an offense punishable by law?”

Steve clutched the kid closer to him, he’d woken up when the agents arrived, and when Agent Monroe had tried to take him to do a minor assessment, as soon as Steve handed him over he started screaming and wouldn’t stop until he was safely back in Steve’s arms.

“I swear, I’m not abandoning him. I just found him, and I panicked. I was late to my meeting, and I figured if I was here, there would be someone to help.” Steve tried to explain.

“Son, it’s clear that this child is attached to you, in general you don’t see that unless you’ve had contact. You’ve both got the same hair and eye coloring. We can do a blood test if we need to prove it, and if we do prove it, you could be looking at serious trouble. If you need assistance, there are things we can do to help, but you seem like a good kid, and a parent is a hard thing to come by in the system. Please, reconsider.”

Steve floundered for a moment, unsure what to do in the face of such staunch belief.

Pepper stepped in to the rescue. “Gentlemen, are you insinuating that I would be a known conspirator in a plot to abandon an innocent child?” she said calmly, and turned to Steve. “William, hand over the child.”

Steve reluctantly handed the little tyke over; who screamed as soon as he was lifted from Steve’s grasp. The agents stuttered out apologies to Pepper. Steve was asked to sign forms and statements, filling in ‘his’ fake details, thankful for all the time Natasha had spent drilling him on the finer points. He scowled as he filled in the employment section, crossing out current and leaving the words ‘last known employer’ glaring back at him, and within the hour the Agents and kid were finally out of the Tower, off to places unknown.

“Are you ok, Steve?” Pepper asked after they were left alone.

Steve looked up from where he’d been staring at his hands, which already felt empty without the slight weight of the kid in them.

“Sure, I just feel for the poor kid, can’t be an easy lift being abandoned, starting out in care.”

“You just have to have hope in the system, and knowing Tony, I’m sure something will be arranged sooner or later.” She smiled to herself at that.

“I wish we could track the mom down, maybe offer to help.”

“Well, once more pressing matters are sorted we can probably dedicate a bit more manpower to it, but in the meantime, JARVIS—”

“Yes, Ms. Potts.”

“Could you please see about finding any security footage from any cameras around the area of the church? Subway entrances, that kind of thing. I’m sure Steve can give you a description of the lady and a time to narrow your search.”

“Of course, Ms. Potts.”

Steve spent a few minutes recalling the features of the lady he’d managed to capture, an enhanced memory really had its benefits, and soon JARVIS was doing what he did best. Pepper sat next to Steve, handing him a glass of water.

“Steve, about your friend,” she said sympathetically as she joined him on the couch.

“I know you all think I’m crazy, but Bucky wouldn’t do the things Natasha said The Winter Soldier has done. Not by choice, and not without a fight. But, when I saw him, it wasn’t just that he didn’t recognize me, it was like he truly didn’t know me from Adam. Something else is going on here, if Bucky is with the bad guys, then they must have done something to him. And I’m not going to stop until I find out what they’ve done and how to fix it. I lost him once, I can’t lose him again.”

Pepper looked taken back by the vehemence in his words.

“If you truly think that’s what has happened, then take it from someone who has been remade in exactly that way, whatever’s left of your friend, if anything is left at all, might not be anything you remember.” Natasha and Tony had re-joined them.

Steve looked away from the intensity of Natasha’s gaze. He recognized the sincerity in her words and knew that it must have cost her to stay something so personal to them, even if it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky,” Steve said, trying to make eye contact. “No matter what he is now, what he’s done. I gotta bring him home. He’d do, hell, he’s done the same for me. And if he’s been made to do these things, it’s even more important that I get him back. So what’s the plan?”

Due to the limited amount of intel they’d managed to gather so far, Natasha and Tony had decided that risks had to be taken. Steve being fired restricted them, but they knew for sure something was happening down in the Macy’s basement. The plan was that Steve would go to pick up his last paycheck and attempt to plant some bugs in the offices of Macy’s. Ideally in Bucky’s office, but, if not, Steve knew he could easily plant something on Jackie and Jacob’s desks, with the hopes that one of them might pick something up.

Tony offered him a packet. “These aren’t your average bugs. We can’t sync them to a network, so you need to plant them somewhere they won’t be discovered and collect them later. I’ve added a little stealth covering, which should hopefully help them blend in.”

With at least a direction to go in, Steve left the Tower to return to William’s apartment and relay the state of things to Clint in more detail.

Steve was a street away from Clint’s apartment block when someone grabbed his upper arm, Steve’s reflexes kicked in, and before he knew he had his attacker in a hold. “Whoa wait, wait. William, its Sam, remember? We met earlier?” Steve released his arm as quick as he could.

“Jeez, Sam. I’m so sorry, did I hurt you?” Steve apologized for his rash reaction.

“No worries, man, not the first time that’s happened. I was calling your name for half a block, man. Everything ok?” Sam asked, even though the look on his face said that he already suspected the answer to that was a resounding no.

Steve huffed out an almost laugh. “No, not really. Tough day. Got the can, and then. Just not good.”

“I’ve have definitely been there.”

“Sorry again about your arm.” Steve repeated his apology and made to set off. 

“Look, I don’t really believe in coincidence, so do you wanna maybe get a drink? We can sit in silence if you want, but you look like you could use a friend,” Sam said with a friendly smile on his face.

Steve had to laugh at the irony of that when his friend was the reason he was so clearly out of it. “Thanks. Sam, but I really don’t think I’d be any kind of decent company tonight,” Steve answered. “But how about some other time?” he added without thought.

“Yeah, that’d be great. Here, take my number and let me know when works for you. I mean, I’m normally based over in DC, but I’ll be around for the next month or so on family business.” Sam handed over his number and shook Steve’s hand before heading off.

Before Steve could retreat to his apartment, he dropped in on Clint, who had handed him a tepid beer when he’d opened his door. “Figured you could use a drink.”

“Times like this, I wish it had an effect.”

Clint gawped at him.

“They didn’t tell you that? Alcohol doesn’t work, I burn it off too quickly for it to take effect.”

“Then my friend, you just aren’t drinking quickly enough,” Clint concluded.

Steve stuck around for half an hour, taking Clint over the day, before finally making it back to the blessed quiet of his apartment. He didn’t even bother switching the lights on as he made his way to the sofa, sitting in the quiet and trying to process everything that had happened, rather than making an effort to sleep.

-

Steve must have drifted off at some point while wandering through his memories, as he was startled awake at 10am the next morning, demonstrating clearly just how much yesterday had taken out of him. He hadn’t slept later than 6am, baring recovery, in years.

The phone continued to blare at him, while he quickly searched for the offending object, answering with a muttered, “’lo?”

“William! What did you do!? A very scary agent in a very serious suit just burst into the office demanding to speak to Mr. Clinton about you!” Jackie was talking a mile a minute.

“I have no idea,” Steve replied honestly. “Did they say anything specific?”

“Just something about the irresponsibility of firing someone in your position! Shit, gotta go, one of the head honchos is heading my way.” She hung up before he could even say bye.

He didn’t have time to dwell on Jackie’s call, as 30 seconds later his phone was ringing again.

“Hello?” he said in a slightly more composed voice.

“Mr. King?” Bucky’s familiar voice asked.

“Ye..Yes.” Steve stuttered, shocked once again at hearing Bucky’s voice in the present day.

“Mr. King, this is Tommy Clinton from Macy’s. I know that yesterday came as a shock to you, but I’m wondering if you could come into the office as soon as possible, as it appears we weren’t fully aware of a number of matters pertaining to the situation.”

“Uh, sure. I can be there in 30 minutes?” he suggested. Steve’s mind was trying to figure out what this could possibly mean. Had his cover been blown, and this was a way to lure him back? Was it something related to Bucky? There was only one way to find out. Steve would happily walk into a trap if it meant that he could see Bucky again. If he could try and see his friend in the eyes that had lacked recognition. He’d do just about anything for a chance to spark familiarity in his gaze.

“That’s great, just let my assistant know when you get here and you’ll be escorted straight up.”

Steve sat in silence again. At the very least this gave him an excellent opportunity to plant the bugs that Natasha had handed to him the night before. Steve bent forward and threaded his hands through his hair, resting to gather his emotions. He had to keep it together for the mission. That was important. Bucky wasn’t going away while the plot was still ongoing, so he had time.

He thought back to last night. Natasha had taken him aside once the team had come to the agreement it was most likely that Bucky was The Winter Soldier. She had hesitantly told him a little of her past. The conditioning, the brainwashing, the extent that a hostile entity like the Red Room had dedicated to breaking and molding her. He could tell it took a lot for her to talk so openly about her situation, and he realized, she’d done more than just earn his trust in that moment. She didn’t need Steve’s protection, but he was sure she needed his friendship.

But that still didn’t take away from the horror of what Bucky must have gone through, the pain of the missing arm weighed heavily on his mind. Steve was resolute, Bucky had to have been broken to be so willing to do the things The Winter Soldier had. Steve had secretly vowed that, despite how their current mission went, he would bring Bucky back.

He was running out of time. Steve got himself together and was showered, changed and banging on Clint’s door within ten minutes. He relayed the developments to Clint in person, even more paranoid that his cover might have been blown after the summons from Bucky, he took extra precautions to maintain it as best he could as he set off to his meeting.

-

“Mr. King, thank you for joining us,” Bucky said, gesturing for Steve to take a seat. As Steve walked in to do so, Bucky pointed to the other occupant in the room. “I believe you’ve already met Agent Jenkins from CPS?”

Steve nodded, the pieces of the puzzle slotting into place.

“Agent Jenkins tells me that yesterday, upon your dismissal, you gave your child to CPS?”

Steve tried to deny the misconception that Tommy and Jenkins were working under.

“I didn’t realize that you were in such a precarious position, that the loss of your work with us would have such drastic consequences. Now, Agent Jenkins has made it clear that, should we fail to help you and the situation that we’ve put you in, he will not hesitate to go to the press. Needless to say that’s the last thing we here at Macy’s want. I already explained to you that I was against the dismissal, but with Jenkins backing me up, I’ve managed to negotiate to have you reinstated, starting immediately, with a permanent position guaranteed once your internship is over – if you want it?” Bucky eyed Steve.

Steve didn’t know what to expect when he was called into the office, but this wasn’t it. “Obviously there is the condition that you will immediately collect your son from CPS, so that they don’t have to press charges. But, as you’ll be gainfully employmened, both myself and Mr. Jenkins are hopeful that this would be an acceptable agreement for all involved.”

Steve gaped unattractively at the offer. Getting back into Macy’s would be an advantage in the long run, and this way he could keep tabs on Bucky with more ease.

-

As soon as the agent and William King had exited the office, the Asset dropped his act. The child offered him an excellent reason to reinstate Mr. King. He couldn’t pin down what why, but his senses told him there was more to William King than met the eye. His little trip to the basement could have been an honest mistake, but maybe it wasn’t. Either way, the Asset would get to the bottom of it. Something about King was pinging his radar, and the Asset’s experience told him not to ignore his instincts and pay attention to King. The kid gave him the perfect way to pry without raising suspicions if King was involved with something he shouldn’t be.

Rollings entered the office. He was one of HYDRA’s lackeys that had been assigned to the Asset’s team for this op. “You really think he’s a threat?”

“He’s something,” The Asset answered, unhappy to be questioned by an underling while mid-mission. “Did the searches turn anything up?”

“We couldn’t find anything through official channels. HYDRA sources are taking a little longer to return, but so far he seems like your average individual. We did pick up that he’s had business dealings with Pepper Potts recently, a tenuous link to the Avengers, but it seems genuine.”

“What business?”

“Potts is currently in the process of opening a gallery for underprivileged and up and coming artists. King won a place in the gallery in an online competition, Potts has had meetings with each of the contributors, including King.”

“Could be a cover. Trail him, bug him. I want to know everything William King does, who he interacts with and anything else we can get.”  Whatever the Assets senses were picking up, if there was anything to find, his team would find it. Until then, William King had given him a first class excuse to turn up in aid of a new father, with everything a family could need, courtesy of Macy’s PR department.

-

After what felt like a decade in the office of Agent Jenkins, Steve and the kid were finally released into the wild. Steve seriously doubted his life and his choices that had lead him to this point, absconding with a baby to further a mission. He figured Natasha would be equal parts horrified and impressed with the lengths he was willing to go. Steve tried to figure if this counted as child endangerment? He really hoped not. This had to rank as one of the weirdest things he’d done, including volunteering for an untested experimentation that could have killed him.

Steve didn’t see what other option he had, really, if they wanted any chance of getting to the bottom of the threat if they needed to have access to Macy’s. At least this way he had a chance to make sure the kid got returned to his mom.

That hadn’t stopped him from leaving a panicked message for Natasha on his way to the CPS offices. He should probably switch his phone back on. It’d had been ringing nonstop, and Agent Jenkins had taken offense at Steve’s rudeness.

Steve wasn’t exactly sure that Jenkins was going by official CPS procedure in his case, and as much as it worked out in his favor, he was going to have to write a strongly worded letter once this was all over. Steve could have been anyone, which didn’t instill him with confidence. Steve didn’t let himself concentrate too hard on that though, the guilt was already tearing at him that he was using a child to further his cover, his only hope was that the ends would justify the means.

He left the CPS building with a bag of ‘essential items’ and the kid strapped to his chest in a carrier that a very helpful woman had shown him how to work after watching in bemusement as he floundered around with the seemingly endless number of straps and clips that were supposed to secure the kid to him. The closeness was at once comforting and intimidating, but the kid was happily gurgling up at him, which caused a least some relief to spread through him. The kid seemed happy enough and that was important to Steve right now.

He awkwardly wriggled his phone out of his pocket, using his unencumbered hand to switch it back on and roll his eyes when it buzzed continuously for a few minutes, receiving endless texts, emails and voicemails. He was about to call Natasha when he became aware of his tail. Cursing internally Steve figured that someone at Macy’s must be suspicious, either he was followed here, or someone, maybe even Bucky himself, had sent someone to keep tabs on him. Steve shouldn’t feel a warm glow of something at that thought, but he did anyway. Time to get serious, if they were following William King, William King was what they were going to get. Single dad, aspiring artist, shabby apartment and all. 

Without pausing, he continued to bring his contact lists up, he needed to let the team know what was going on, so he switched from calling Natasha to dialing the number for Pepper’s assistant.

“Pepper Potts office, Sahara speaking, how may I direct your call?”

“Hi Sahara. You might remember me? I’m one of the artists Ms. Potts has commissioned, William King?” Steve was very glad they’d put effort into making his cover as believable as possible, he’d even been enjoying actually giving his artistic skills a stretch, it wasn’t something he’d been focusing on since his return. Too many other things to focus on, and too much pain when all he seemed to draw was his old war buddies, now long since gone from this world.

“Of course Mr. King,” Sahara interrupted his thoughts, “How may I help?”

“Would it be possible to speak with Ms. Potts? It’s an emergency, otherwise I wouldn’t bother her.”

“Let me see if she’s available to take your call.”

Steve was briefly put on hold, foot tapping to the classy jazz that filtered through his phone.

“Mr. King, Ms. Potts can take your call, I’m transferring you now.”

“Ms. Potts!” Steve exclaimed before Pepper could speak. “I’m so sorry to call like this, but I thought that I owed you an apology.”

“Hi there, William, is everything ok?”

Steve should have known better than to expect that Pepper of all people would say anything likely to blow his cover.

“I...Yes, everything is fine. But, I do owe you an apology, I wasn’t quite truthful with you the other day, you see. The kid, he really is mine. I didn’t want to admit it to you, but I didn’t want you to think I was some kind of deadbeat dad.” Steve well and truly hoped he was selling this to his stalker as he strolled along to the nearest subway station. He couldn’t just walk across New York City with a kid strapped to him in the winter. “But, luckily the agent that we spoke with wanted to help and convinced Macy’s to give me my job back, so that I could keep my son.” Steve was going to have to figure out a name for the kid soon.

“I see, William, I’m glad that you’ve let me know about your change in circumstance. I would have offered to help, you realize, if you had explained the situation? Is there anything I can do to help you?” Pepper said.

“I know you would have, you’re good people Ms. Potts, but I’m stubborn and was too proud to ask for help.” Admitting that, even in this situation stung Steve somewhat.

“Well, we all have our faults don’t we, William. So is there anything I can do?” she repeated her offer.

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly accept any more charity that you’ve already given me with this opportunity. But I am going to have to cancel our meeting this afternoon, it’s all been rather sudden, and I need to pick up some supplies.” Steve couldn’t work out how to say that he needed all the help he could get without tipping his hand.

“In that case I hope you will bring the youngster to our next meeting, it would be lovely to meet your son again.” Pepper gave him an easy out for bringing the kid in to the Tower.

“Yes ma’am, I’ll be sure to do that.”

“Excellent, I have some important calls to make to our little group, so…”

“Oh, of course. Sorry for taking up more of your time, Ms. Potts, and thank you so much for your kind offer of help. I’ll see you on Monday.”

By the time Steve had finished the call he’d made it to the subway. Successfully navigating the push and pull of New York streets with a child strapped to you wasn’t an easy thing, he quickly found out. It was lucky his bulk already made people get out of his way, the addition of a kid and a load of bags helped out with that as well.

As he stood on the train, he tried to pay more attention to the kid, who had fallen asleep as soon as they’d started moving. He was a cute kid, blond hair and blue eyes and an adorable nose. It wasn’t difficult to see why Jenkins was convinced the kid was Steve’s. Maybe in another life this was something he could have had, he thought to himself, sadness spreading through him at the thought of him and Peggy getting to grow old together, surrounded by kids, Bucky by their side. A nice dream, he thought. Shame it never came to pass.

Negotiating the subway exit wasn’t any easier than getting on it, but Steve breathed a sigh of relief when they finally exited, a few blocks away from Clint’s apartment building and sans his follower. Only to groan out loud when his phone started to ring, startling the kid awake from his happy snooze. He tried to stroke his back in a soothing manner while quickly shutting the phone off, only for it to start ringing again seconds later.

“Hello,” he snapped.

“Mr. King?” Clint’s familiar voice said, “This is your landlord, we’ve got a slight problem at the apartment.”

Steve went on high alert, stopping in his tracks. If something was going down at the building, there was no way he could take the kid there.

Clint continued, “There’s an individual claiming he’s your boss who is currently loitering in the hallway, scaring Mrs. Stilinski, refusing to leave until he’s seen you. Says his name is…” Clint’s voice when quiet as he enquired. “Mr. Clinton? He was saying that he has to see you urgently. If this bozo isn’t who he says he is, let me know, and I’ll call in someone to escort him out.”

Steve blanched at the thought of Clint interacting with The Winter Soldier, his boss, or Bucky. All three scenarios seemed equally likely to end in disaster or property damage. He also realized that if The Winter Soldier knew Clint and Clint knew ‘William’ and William knew Pepper, he was probably raising all sorts of flags. He needed to sure up his cover and fast. He had to convince The Winter Soldier that he was just a guy, not in any way affiliated with the Avengers, other than some coincidental acquaintances.

“Oh. Yes, Mr. Clinton is my boss, but I have no idea why he’s at the complex.” He really hoped Clint hadn’t already fired off a warning to Nat. If she came to the rescue now, they really were screwed.

“He says he’s got a gift for you. And to be fair, he does have a rather large box that better not be a fucking bomb,” Clint said, clearly directing that last statement at The Winter Soldier.

Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all. Steve had to think. If the Soldier just suspected him at this point, Steve had to try and seem innocuous, and he also really needed to get Clint and Bucky away from each other. “I guess it’s ok if you let him into my apartment? If he insists on staying, I’m only a few blocks away.” The sudden lack of a tail made sense as well, it wasn’t that Steve had successfully lost him, but that he’d been replaced

“You sure about that, kid?” Clint asked.

“Yeah… I mean, yes, its fine Mr. Barton, please let him in, I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Steve said, and a tactical opportunity presented itself to add a little more credence to his newly acquired addition. “Oh, erm, while I’ve got you on the phone. About my lease, I’m supposed to notify you if there’s a chance to my circumstances, right?” Steve could pre-warn Clint about the kid, in case Natasha hadn’t managed to, and lay a little groundwork for just how he’d gained a child.

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to be having my son staying with me, providing that’s ok? I mean, the lease didn’t say that I couldn’t have kids here, but I figured it would be best to notify you.”

“…oh. Sure, I mean, I didn’t realize you’d got a kid. But you won’t be the only one in the block with one. No problem.”

“Great! Thank you so much sir. So, if you could let Mr. Clinton into the apartment, I’m sorry for all of the commotion.”

-

Steve wanted to curse when he hung up, but instead settled for continuing to try and comfort the kid, who had settled back down and was glaring up at Steve as if in judgment. “Ok kid. Let’s get you home.” Steve prayed that he wouldn’t be walking the kid into a trap, but if Bucky were going to attack him, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be in his own home after being seen in public there.

Steve was glad they’d been so thorough in setting up his alternative life. The apartment didn’t have anything that belonged to Steve Rogers in it, even his shield was stored at Clint’s, close enough to get if he really needed it, but not incriminating William King at all. Which was good news, since he currently had the world’s most deadly assassin/most likely brainwashed best friend left to his own devices there. Steve blanched at the fact that Bucky was in his home.

The past few days had been a rollercoaster, and now Steve was about to walk into an apartment with an actual ghost story and have a conversation, like normal people. His mind tried to puzzle out exactly why The Winter Soldier would be doing this. Steve’s best guess was that something about Steve’s cover wasn’t as convincing as they’d hoped. Maybe being here, maybe meeting with Pepper, or Steve’s basement wandering had put him in the radar. Well, that just meant Steve would have to be extra diligent. No calls to the team, and he’d have to stick to his ‘normal person’ routine.

Five minutes later, Steve eased his way into the apartment. He’d managed to calm the kid down, and he was drowsily nuzzling into Steve’s chest, causing Steve to feel even more protective and petrified of him. His super senses told him that the kid was definitely in need of a diaper change. Steve was incredibly grateful that the Internet was a thing, because he was going to need all the help he could when figuring out how to do that.

Steve scanned the room, eyes quickly landing and making eye contact with Tommy Clinton/Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier who was lounging on his couch. He had a roguish smile on his face, a plethora of bags, and one very large box next to him. Steve blinked in shock.

“Hello, Mr. Clinton, you’ll have to pardon the state of the place, I wasn’t really expecting any of this.”

“Please, call me Tommy,” he said, glancing around at the tidy apartment that Steve kept. “And if this is messy pal, then I don’t want to know what you think tidy is,” he said, probably trying to ease the tension in the room.

“Ok, Tommy. Care to explain yourself?” Steve questioned, even if you ignored the very weird situation of a trained assassin trying to bust you, your ex-boss/current-boss turning up at your door with bags of baby stuff was bizarre.

“I’m sorry for intruding, but after our conversation this morning, I had meetings with our PR, HR and legal teams. And while, I’m sure they don’t want me to be quite so frank about this, the legal department has asked to get you to sign off on a waiver, stating that you will not go public with your story. I figure you aren’t the type, but they wanted to be sure. And, while I doubt your silence can be so easily bought I thought that by providing you with some of the best baby stuff Macy’s has to offer, we could hopefully keep this between us.”

Steve raised a skeptical eyebrow as he made his way over to the spare spot on the sofa, dropping the bags on the floor and carefully trying to extract the kid from the baby carrier, his super senses recoiling at the stink coming from the kid.

“I mean, looking around, it seems like you could use all the help you can get. Funny how you don’t have any baby related stuff lying around for little…What’s his name?” There was an edge of a tone in his voice.

Steve really had to sell this. And he’d never been good at lying to Bucky. Hopefully he’d have more success with Tommy, which would be fine, Steve realized. If he’d managed to pick a name out for the tyke. Shit.

In a panic, Steve blurted out the first name that came to mind. “James…” Steve had a moment of horror realizing that he’d said James and tried to recover. “I mean. Jimmy. I mean, his legal name is James, but his grandfather is also a James, so he’s Jimmy. Jimmy Carter.” Steve cursed his mouth and lack of a brain.

“Jimmy’s a cute name for a kid, but Carter?”

“Yeah. It’s complicated.” Steve stalled, trying to figure out a way to explain how he’d come to be in in this situation. He hoped to god one of Tony’s bugs was picking this up, and they could back Steve up with some documentation. He was sure that ‘Tommy’ would be checking it out as soon as he got the chance. “Yeah. You see, well. It wasn’t every really in the plan for me to have much contact with him.”

Tommy frowned at that, Steve realized he sounded like a deadbeat dad and tried to recover, Steve realized he didn’t want any version of Bucky to think he was capable of that.

“Jimmy wasn’t really planned. My ex, she was British and we’d split well before she left to go back home to help with the family business. We had one last night together before she headed out, and Jimmy was the result of that. I mean, I offered to help out as much as I could, but she’s from a wealthy family and I couldn’t get a permanent visa for the UK, so we decided that it was best if she took Jimmy and…” Steve felt genuinely upset.

“She got sick. She didn’t really tell me until she showed up with Jimmy and explained everything. She wanted me to take him, but with the job and everything else. I have no idea how to raise a kid, I thought. I thought handing him over would be for the best. But, I guess not. What the fuck have I done? ” The last part was an honest question that sprung from him. What had he done? “I don’t have any stuff, I have no idea how to take care of a kid, and I don’t even know how to change a diaper.”

He looked at up at Bucky, who at least seemed to be buying his story, going by the shock on his face.

“Jeez, that’s one hell of a story, buddy,” Bucky said. “I’m sorry about your ex. And I’m really glad I turned up. I can’t help with all of your problems, but I can help with-” he gestured to Jimmy, “Can I take him?”

Steve was nodding before Bucky had finished speaking, handing Jimmy over to his sort-of namesake. Steve had to get a grip, he’d literally just handed over a child to one of the most feared assassins in the world, just because his Bucky had experience with kids.

Jimmy started to whine as soon as Steve let go, but Bucky shushed him. “Right, where’s his changing gear?” he said, clearing a spot on the sofa, Jimmy cradled in his right arm with ease.

Steve rustled around in the bags, retrieving the changing stuff he’d been told he’d need – diaper, wipes, cream, diaper bag, drying cloth and all. Bucky looked at the stuff as if it wasn’t what he was expecting to see. Steve had a moment of hope, his Bucky would have been expecting a cloth diaper and safety pins, but he shrugged it off and got to work, delicately unbuttoning the layers of clothing Jimmy was swathed in.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but I’m pretty sure I can show you the basics,” he said, and Steve watched on as Bucky took charge and quickly and efficiently changed Jimmy, explaining as he went.

Steve had a sudden pang of longing for the days when he would watch Bucky help out with his nieces, the same mindless babbling as he entertained the baby while cleaning and patting them dry. He finally finished, buttoning up Jimmy’s onesie.

“There we go, all better,” he said picking Jimmy up to pass back over to Steve.

Jimmy finally stopped whimpering as Steve cradled him close, resting his cheek against Jimmy’s head. He glanced up at Bucky who seemed to startle at the scene, looking down at his hands like he couldn’t believe what he’d just done.

Bucky started to back up towards the door, as if in fright. “You got that, champ? I’d best be off then. I left the forms on the counter, if you could sign and return them ASAP, we’d be grateful.” He was out of the door before Steve could even say thanks, slamming it behind him.

The bang, disturbed Jimmy, who started to wail his displeasure. Steve sank back into his sofa, confused and worried, literally left holding the baby. Really, what the hell had he done? Seeing Bucky changing Jimmy had felt so right, the picture could have been perfect if everything else behind it was different. Steve held back a sob, Jimmy’s wailing resonating with him. He stood up and tried to soothe him, echoing the murmuring Bucky had been doing while changing him.

-

The Asset paced his small office space like a caged animal. His mission was partially successful, he’d managed to plant several bugs in key locations of King’s flat and scoped out the apartment itself. There was no indication that King seemed to be anything other than he described, there was paperwork documenting his new tenancy, paperwork for the internship, the expected bills and correspondence and nothing out of place.

The fact that he was renting from Clint Barton, known Avenger, was a red flag to the Soldier, and an added and unexpected complication if it proved King wasn’t who he claimed, as it indicated that King was SHIELD protected. But the Asset would deal with if it came to it. Barton wasn’t a challenge for him.

King’s flat had also validated his association with Ms. Potts, an art studio set up in his spare room had a number of unfinished pieces strewn around, and a few printed out emails detailing the gallery opening. The Asset had spent longer than he meant to looking at the familiar brush strokes of the pieces and had to rush to the living room in haste when he heard the telltale sounds of movement in the hallway outside of King’s apartment, only just managing to be sitting casually when King had opened the door. He wondered if he’d seen some of the artwork in another situation.

More worrying than what he had or hadn’t found in King’s apartment were his own actions while there. He was good at his job, he knew how to maintain cover, but his instincts rarely lead to him to changing babies and soothing worried new fathers. He looked down at his mismatched hands, where and when had he learnt to do that? The Asset wasn’t unaware that he had been conditioned by his handlers to provide the best service possible, but he also wasn’t used to an unknown skill appearing that wasn’t in some way related to death or deception. When had he learned to change a diaper, and exactly what had come over him in that small space? His job was to get in, get out and use the cover to plant bugs. Not stop to chat and be charmed by an adorable baby and his scruffy father.

The Asset reflected at the moment that had disturbed him, watching King cradle Jimmy close and rest his cheek softly on Jimmy’s head had stirred some deep emotion within him. He wasn’t exactly built for emotion and couldn’t pin point what had made the sudden longing ping within him. He pushed the thought and the image to the side. He had a mission to focus on.

“Sir?” Rollings asked as he knocked and entered the room. “King’s story checks out. We’ve got the birth certificates from the British HYRDA division and flight itineraries that back up the movements of Margarete Carter, who is now currently residing in a care home in Washington before being transported back to the UK. Do you want us to send a team to interrogate her?”

The Asset shook his head. He didn’t think anything good would come from that. “No, we’ve got the bugs. If King is someone we need to be aware of, that’s how we’ll find out. Have someone on his feeds the entire time, let me know if anything comes up.”

The Asset didn’t know why, but he felt the need to keep close tabs on the two of them.

Half an hour later, Rollings rushed back, a development had occurred. One of Stark’s town cars had arrived at King’s flat.

The Asset took a seat at his computer and tuned into the available feeds, fixing his noise cancelling headphones in place so he could fully concentrate.

He could hear a knocking at the door, followed by a surprised “Ms. Potts!” as King welcomed his visitor in.

“I can’t stay for long, William, but I needed to make sure you were ok, for my own piece of mind.” Potts replied. “I know you weren’t at all prepared for this, so I thought to bring you some help, although it looks like you’ve made good use of your store discount.” She must have caught sight of the Macy’s bags the Asset had left with King.

“Oh, no. My boss, he turned up with some gifts…I guess, I think he felt bad about firing me in my situation.”

The Asset smiled, King wasn’t going to go to the press. Otherwise he’d have taken this opportunity to tell Potts about the waiver and what had been said. 

“Well, isn’t that nice. I do hope you’ll still need the stuff I’ve brought.” Another knock could be heard, and as the door was opened Potts continued to speak, “thank you Happy, we won’t bother you any longer then.”

The Asset could hear a number of bags and boxes being set down.

“I’m not sure if you’re aware, but recommendations say to wash any new clothing before letting your child wear them, just to be safe,” Potts said.

“Thank you, Ms. Potts, you really didn’t have to.”

“You’re right, I didn’t. But I have, and please William, call me Pepper. One last thing, I figured with such short notice you probably hadn’t considered child care?”

“Oh. Shit.”

King’s cluelessness caused the Asset to smile in fondness, before he quickly shrugged it off.

“Technically, as you’ll be in the gallery, I can class you as a Stark Industries employee, which means that we’d be delighted if you’d take advantage of our day care.”

“Pepper, I..really, I don’t have the words to say how much this helps.” The earnest sincerity could be heard in William’s voice, and again the Asset found himself strangling a smile before it could form on his face.

“It’s only until the gallery is up and running, but I thought that would give you time to make other arrangements.”    

The Asset sat back, digesting this information. It really and truly did seem that King was above board, at least in relation to Potts. He listened as they exchanged further pleasantries and goodbyes. He stated this fact to Rollings before dismissing him.

But that didn’t dissolve the feeling that King still needed to be monitored.

-

Steve soon came to realize that looking after a child was, while incredibly exhausting, a fairly routine endeavor when you figured out the basics. Although personally he thought that Jimmy was just such a great kid that he made it a million times simpler than Steve had feared. By Monday, Steve had partially mastered the art of: changing a stinky diaper, figuring out when Jimmy was hungry vs. when Jimmy was just grumpy, how to hold him if he wanted to nap but was fighting going to sleep, and how to feed him without getting completely covered in food.

Although, it was still exhausting. Steve, even with the serum was starting to feel the effects, he was luck he needed so little sleep, but he still struggled with being woken up at random and unpredictable times. He’d figured out the best routine was to nap when Jimmy slept, it was enough to keep him going. He felt a pang of sympathy for everyone out there without the serum trying to keep up with a kid. The only drawback to napping with Jimmy was all the times he couldn’t sleep and ended up restless, his thoughts inevitably returning to Bucky.

Among the many things Pepper had brought was a bag full of child rearing books that Steve had devoured in a night, making extensive notes on all the things he needed to know. Not that he felt in any way prepared to be looking after a baby, but so far he thought he was doing alright. It helped that he’d received a call from Jimmy’s “grandfather”, a very stilted JARVIS, who had renamed himself James, and was, he assured Steve, available at any hour of the day, if he required advice.

Even with Jimmy making his life as easy as it possibly could be, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t a baby and still prone to being upset when he wanted to be. He’d been crying for last two hours, on and off while Steve had, to various degrees of success, managed to distract him with toys and food, before Steve decided it was time to try a change of scenery. It took him another half an hour to gather all the stuff that Jimmy required and a further 10 minutes to get him bundled up and strapped into the baby carrier, once he was secured in against Steve’s chest he decided to change back to his normal happy baby self. Steve groaned. They were still getting out of the house, even if Jimmy had cheered up. The constant knowledge of the bugs he’d found in multiple locations was enough to make him constantly on the alert. It would be nice for a break.

Steve set off with no real destination in mind when he came across a café with a children’s playroom attached. Perfect place for a single dad, right?

He ordered a coffee at the bar, before settling in with Jimmy in a high chair, a few toys to keep him occupied. Steve took out one of the baby development books and continued to read. It was fairly fascinating, and not something Steve had spent any time focusing on before. Kids had seemed like such a remote possibility that it never seemed necessary. Steve was trying valiantly to ignore the voice in his head telling him that it still wasn’t a possibility. As soon as the mission was complete, Jimmy would either be back with his mom or placed into a good family. That was for the best.

 

The waitress brought his coffee and smiled at his book. Steve wasn’t a stranger to getting looked up and down by people, but he had noticed that having Jimmy strapped to him tended to change a lot of the attention he got. Three separate women had waved at him already while he was settling in. He hoped to god they’d leave him alone.

He was saved from the approaching masses when he looked up to see Sam smiling at him.

“Dude, we just can’t help but run into each other, it seems!” He exclaimed. “This your kid?” He nodded at Jimmy.

Steve smiled in relief. “Hey, it appears we can’t. Sam, this is Jimmy,” Steve said, introducing them. He tried to get Jimmy’s attention to introduce him to Sam, but he was engrossed in the sensory book Steve had given him. “He’s a little preoccupied at the moment. How about that drink?” Steve asked. 

Sam joined him at the table, looking over his shoulder and pointing out a pair of children swinging from some bars over a ball pit. “Those two are my menacing niece and nephew. So, you really weren’t lying when you said you’d had a time of it,” Sam stated.

Steve couldn’t put a finger on why, but he trusted Sam. It might have been the friendly smile or the fact that their two prior meetings had shown Sam to be kind and caring, but he didn’t feel on guard with him like he did most people, and shocked himself by telling Sam a condensed version of events.

Sam sat back. “Really don’t do things by half,” he said.

They spent the afternoon pleasantly chatting and entertaining Jimmy and Sam’s niece and nephew when they got bored of the monkey bars and came running to find him.

Steve left the café feeling much better about the world, and like he’d actually made a friend free from his normal life for the first time since being back.

-

Steve was glad that when Monday came around that he had a firm plan in place. He successfully gathered Jimmy and his stuff and was out the door on time to drop Jimmy off at SI’s day care. He was surprised at how hard a task it was handing Jimmy over. It’d had only been a few days, but Steve really felt attached to the kid. After another crying session (Jimmy, not Steve), Steve was on his way to Macy’s and concocting a plan to get back into Bucky’s office to try and retrieve the recording devices he’d managed to plant on the day he’d been summoned back.  

After his morning shift, he headed up to the offices, he exchanged chitchat with Jackie, once again recapping a condensed version of ‘How William Got a Baby’. Bucky wasn’t around, but he convinced Jackie to let him wait for him in his office and had successfully collected the devices before he heard Bucky asking Jackie to set up a meeting with Mr. Sykes for him.

“Mr. King,” Bucky said, “What a pleasant surprise.”

“William’s fine, Tommy. I just wanted to stop by to say thanks. I don’t think I managed that before, but really. All you’ve done has been wonderful.” Steve repeated the line he’d rehearsed in his head adding, “Could I buy you lunch some time?” without fully thinking that through. Fuck. He really needed to get a grip, this wasn’t in the plan. But maybe this would help him sell his cover. If Steve wasn’t who he said he was, surely he’d be trying to spend less time with Bucky?

Steve saw an out and quickly tried to take it. “No problem, stupid question really. I’ll just leave you to it.” He said, standing and making his way to the door.

“NO!” Bucky said, looking surprised at his own reply. “I’d like that. Tomorrow?”

“Sure, it’s a date.” Steve replied, immediately wanting to smack himself in the face. He made a quick getaway before he could say anything else stupid.

-

After work that evening Steve went to collect Jimmy from day care and made their way to his appointment with Pepper. Glad that they had the cover in place, so that he could easily hand over the bugs to Natasha and Tony to analyze while he caught up on whatever else they’d discovered.

Pepper was as happy to see Jimmy as he seemed to be to see her, immediately bouncing up and down and reaching for her. Tony looked on in yet more fear at their interaction.

“So, baby,” he said.

“Yes honey?” Natasha replied without missing a beat, causing Tony to roll his eyes.

“His name is Jimmy,” Steve said. “Have you found anything else while I’ve been off playing dad?”

“Of course you named him Jimmy,” Tony said, shaking his head. “And of course we’ve found stuff, we, unlike you, have actually been hard at work spying, haven’t we darling?” He said, talking to Natasha.

“Sure we have, sweetums. For a start, this thing is way bigger than we anticipated. When we started out, we figured maybe a leak high up. But, all evidence so far indicates that something of a much larger scale is at play. We aren’t sure of the complete scope yet, but there’s even more reason to keep this as under wraps as we can. We found definitive proof that whatever is happening at Macy’s is tied to SHIELD, Tony?”

“Yep, there are far too many overlapping shipping orders and ‘missing’ SHIELD equipment drops. So far, we figure whoever it is, is using insider knowledge to arm his own force. We just haven’t managed to put a name to the plot yet. The power drainage from Macy’s is holding steady in the pattern we identified, so whatever going on there is still happening. We need to figure out who’s behind this, and quick.”

“Can’t you stop the power drain?” Steve asked.

“I could, but then they’d be aware that I’m on to them. Best to let them think they’re getting away with it. Hopefully they’ll make a mistake that way. You manage to plant the recording devices?” Tony asked.

“I did, I handed them over to JARVIS to start analysis as soon as I arrived. JARVIS, any update?”

“Yes, Sirs, but if you could wait I’ll have finished going through all the gathered data and should be able to give you a report soon.”

“Good going, kid.” Tony answered, hesitantly looking in the direction of Pepper and Jimmy, who had settled on the sofa so Pepper could read Jimmy his favorite book. As if she could feel his gaze, Pepper looked up.

“Steve, we could do with going over the art work you submitted tonight as well.” She smiled at him and beckoned him over.  Natasha and Tony followed, approaching Jimmy with the trepidation of a scared cat.

As soon as Steve was close enough, Jimmy launched himself at him, so he settled in with Pepper to look over the landscape pieces he’d been working on for her, one of the tower in the New York skyline, and one of the bitter winter shore line looking out to sea, with the Statue of Liberty front and center. They chatted about the composition and Pepper’s love of the coloring he’d gone for, while Steve bounced Jimmy and they played together. Natasha had timidly made her way over, and was slowly joining in their little game, a smile playing about her face, while Tony made noise while ordering JARVIS to order an obscene amount of take-out while simultaneously tormenting Clint over the phone about how much of a shame it was he wasn’t here to join them.

Steve realized, with a sudden jolt, that he felt content and happy to be here surrounded by his colleagues, who were quickly becoming his friends. Apparently all it took was throwing a kid in the mix. Together with meeting Sam, it was the first time that he’d felt anything like that this century. If only Bucky was here, it would be perfect.

Pepper noticed Jimmy starting to get sleepy and offered to take get him settled for a nap, while Steve, Tony and Pepper set the table and discussed their next steps.

She returned 10 minutes later—leaving JARVIS in charge of monitoring Jimmy—to find the three of them at loggerheads over, of all things, the only packet of wasabi they’d received with their sushi order. She strutted away, quickly returning with a pot of the stuff. As they settled down to eat, JARVIS announced that he’d finished a full analysis of the data the bugs had picked up.

“Should I give my report now, Sir?”

“Sure J, give it all you got.”

“I’m afraid it isn’t good news,” he started.

“What, did the bugs fail to pick anything up?” Natasha questioned.

“No, Miss Romanov. I believe that Captain Rogers may want to brace himself.”

Steve looked up at in shock, knowing that JARVIS wasn’t actually above him, but feeling the need to address his look at someone. Something.

“The recording devices that Captain Rogers planted, managed to record 48 hours of audio data from 10:45am on Thursday morning, following his return to Mr. Clinton’s office. General chatter in the vicinity of Mr. Clinton’s office revealed no references to any known identity within SHIELD, or reference to any basement or illegal activities, as far as I can tell. Mr. Clinton returned to his office after a prolonged absence at 18:45pm that evening.”

“That’s after he’d been at the apartment.” Steve added.

“Rightly so, sir. Shortly after Mr. Clinton arrives he is called upon and the following conversation takes place.” JARVIS paused and began playing an audio clip.

“Sir?” An unfamiliar voice calls out. “King’s story checks out.” The team shared a look, they had been investigating Steve. Thank god for Natasha being a quick study and making his tale into reality. “We’ve got the birth certificates from the British HYDRA division.” Steve gasped out loud.

JARVIS paused the record. “I believe that the operation being run is of HYDRA origin.”

“No. No way. HDYRA’s dead and buried. I saw Schmidt disintegrate with my own eyes. All of the after action reports show that Peggy and the Commandos cleared HYDRA out. It’s not them. It can’t be.” Steve said in denial of the fact.  “If they were still around, they’d have shown themselves before now. Bucky can’t be HYDRA. He died making sure they were wiped out.”

Pepper had rounded the table to put a comforting hand on Steve’s shoulder. Steve was, once again, reeling from an unexpected shock. How many more things long since buried in his past was he going to have to confront?

“JARVIS,” Natasha asked. “Do you have any other evidence to back this up?”

“Not directly, however, when trying to confirm my suspicious within the SHEILD networks I have access to, my connection was shut down when I attempted to access a previously undetected sub-network.”

“So you think HDYRA is in SHIELD as well. That would make sense if our leak is tied to this mess. Fuck, Fury is not going to be happy with this.”

“How do we know Fury isn’t part of this?” Tony questioned, “It wouldn’t be the first time he’s lied to us.” 

Natasha scowled at him. “Fury isn’t the enemy, he’s not a good guy, but the things he does he does them for the right reasons. I don’t care what you think, I know what HYDRA is, and Fury wouldn’t be part of that,” she said.

“Not knowingly, anyway.” Steve added. Natasha and Tony turned to look at him.

“That would make sense,” Pepper said, quickly catching on to what Steve was implying.

“What do you mean?”

“How far do we suspect the leak in SHIELD is? Do we know it’s only a few members or are we guessing at that?”

“What are you trying to say, Steve?”

“I think this is bigger than we realized. If HYDRA is involved–”

“Oh now you believe!”

“If HYRDA is involved, if the leak in SHIELD is HYDRA, then things could be much worse than we expected.”

“We need to find out just how deep the serpent goes,” Natasha stated. “Ok, new plan. I’m going digging, if there’s HYDRA dirt in SHIELD, I can use Fury’s clearance to sniff it out. Stark, you’re on back up: get in those files and find out what is going on. Steve, you gotta keep tracks on The Winter Soldier. He was dangerous enough as it was, but with ties to HDYRA, that’s even worse. We figure out what’s going on with SHIELD, we figure out what’s happening in Macy’s, and we bring an end to this mess.”

“Captain Rogers, the recovered footage indicates that Mr. Clinton appears to believe your alias is legitimate.”

“That’s good news, Steve, use that to get close to him. If Bucky’s in there you should be able to figure it out, and if not, at least we’ve got eyes on The Soldier. If you suspect he’s coming after us, you get out of there, and we move.”

-

Steve thought that getting close to The Winter Soldier was going to be the toughest part for him, but he was proven wrong time and time again. It started with the promised lunch where he insisted on paying for the hog dog, with all the toppings that Tommy ordered when they take a quick stroll outside of the building. He thought he’d find it harder, that he’d slip up and call him Bucky, but he quickly learned that all of the differences between the Bucky he knew, and the man he currently was made it easy. The conversation flowed freely between then, first about Jimmy and how William was getting used to being a dad, but then it moved on to Brooklyn and baseball and many of the things he and Bucky always talked about.

Bucky shocked him, by asking if they could meet up again, so they did. Over the next few weeks they found themselves taking a quick but chilly stroll around Central Park one blustery Saturday afternoon, with Jimmy in so many layers that all you could see were his eyes peeking out. They spent an afternoon at the play café that Steve stumbled upon, ignoring the very interested looks they garnered from various moms.

They visited the Natural History Museum, where Jimmy took an immediate interest in the dinosaurs and Bucky convinced Steve to visit the planetarium there, which made Steve’s heart beat fast. Bucky had always loved the stars. They stargazed together while Jimmy cooed at the pretty lights. Steve turned to Bucky to find him staring at the two of them in wonder and shot him a smile.

It became second nature to be William, doting dad, and Steve spent an evening in despair when he realized that he was never really going to get this. The kid, and a partner, soft smiles in planetariums and god knows what else. He’s Captain America after all, a fact that he tries to push down, he rationalized, so that he didn’t blow his cover.

And it’s not that he didn’t know what The Winter Soldier has done, but he found that as he spent more time with him that the weight of that knowledge didn’t over power who Tommy is as a person. Just like Bucky, he was fiercely protective of Steve and Jimmy and he effortlessly provided support and encouragement without hitting Steve’s prickly sense of pride. If he was nothing but a cold and calculating killing machine, why would he do any of that?

-

The Asset came back to himself in his office, he’d been drifting off in memory of the afternoon spent at the planetarium with William and Jimmy. His initial intention in agreeing to lunch with William was to try and subtly interrogate him, but after hot dogs and a stroll he’d found himself just enjoying the company, as the conversation flowed between them. From that day it had seemed easier to keep tabs on William by inviting him out, and so they’d spent time together with Jimmy. The Asset was glad he could justify the time to his handler, by the tentative links they’d found between William and known enemies, but he found less and less that he was suspicious of William. Something pure seemed to radiate through him, and the Asset did not want to question why he felt that way.

The afternoon spent at the museum was one of the best he could remember ever having, the warmth he felt watching William enjoy the stars still burned within him. He wished it was warmer, so he could take them both to Coney Island.

He shook himself. He needed to get his head together.

He had managed to argue that the time spent monitoring King was important and that in addition he was able to use using King as a cover, in the office, something to make small talk about when staff asked questions about the hours he spent outside of the office. This way he had a story and a smile about what he’d done, when Jackie inevitably asked him.  He could tell she was inordinately pleased that he had started, for all intents and purposes, dating her friend William.

Which was fine, but didn’t explain why he was daydreaming about William and Jimmy in the middle of the day. He realized with a start that if he was deteriorating so quickly, that probably meant being put back in the chair. Well, it would if he reported it. But he wasn’t going to do that.

He got his head back in the game, looking at reports that had been forwarded on regarding the increased number in attempts to break down HDYRA’s firewalls. Even if King wasn’t up to something, someone else was and it was his responsibility to get to the bottom of it before it became a problem.

-

Natasha and Tony were looking upon their works with despair.

“We’re fucked.” Tony said, vehemently.

Natasha had to agree, though she didn’t want to give Tony the satisfaction.

“All the way down?” he questioned.

“And all the way through as well,” she countered. It was much worse than her previously established framework had guessed at.

“The World Security Council though. We need help.”

“No, what we need is evidence,” she said. What they’d got here was circumstantial at best, and wouldn’t take much to destroy or doctor into something less incriminating. “We’ve got to link whatever is happening at Macy’s to SHIELD, and we need to do it without any doubts. Have you had any luck getting in to their files?”

Tony shook his head. “For a fancy shopping company, Macy’s has surprisingly tight security. Well, surprisingly until you figure out it’s a front for HYDRA I guess. Anything we get in there that’s sending a signal out seems to be quickly picked up on, and in some way disposed of. I’ve tried getting access to their network, but I’m struggling, which tells me its world fucking class, and probably the same encryption that’s blocking us out of the sub-network in SHIELD.”

“So, you’re saying there’s no hope?” she asked, deadpan.

“No, I’m saying I can’t hack my way in there. My best bet right now is full on copy and pasting the hard-drive of one of their PCs, old-fashioned style. Sneaking in, USBs, all that kind of nonsense.”

Natasha was already shaking her head. “Not going to happen.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve already tried it.”

“Romanov, we’re supposed to be a team here, teams tell each other things.”

“I’m telling you now. I’ve burned three separate aliases trying to get in there, before I’ve got more than three feet in someone’s been on my tail. I tried sending in a kid off the street that I bribed, and he didn’t even get that far. They know something’s going on, and they aren’t giving us an inch.” She was annoyed that her efforts had been futile, she wasn’t used to being so out maneuvered by security staff.

“Not us, but how about Steve? That’s what he’s there for, right?” Tony suggested.

“Yeah, but we might need him there longer term, we can’t afford to have him blow his cover. Besides, he’s already scanned The Soldier’s computer, nothing came back outside of normal files.”

“You say that, but I don’t think he’d have anything on there, we need someone higher up in the food chain.” Tony theorized.

“Do you think Pepper could get in?” Tony’s eyes lit up at her suggestion.

“Romanov, I could kiss you.”

“Please don’t.”

-

The week before Christmas dawned bright, early and loud in the King household, Jimmy wailing to be changed and fed before deciding what he wanted to play with.

Steve had come to cherish these moments, the brief hour they spent together before he took Jimmy to day care and headed off to work. He knew this would be ending soon, at the very least he had a terror plot to stop, if not an entire governmental organization to dismantle, so he made time to make the most of it.

Steve had never really seen himself as a paternal kind of guy, before the serum because, well. Who the hell would want a kid with a schmuck like him? He couldn’t keep a steady job, got in more fights that a bare knuckled boxer and was ill more than that. He’d been lucky that he managed to keep a friend like Bucky, but he was under no delusion that there was a white picket fence and family for him in the long run, and only part of the reason for that was that he’d rather grow old with Bucky by his side. And during the war he tried not to think about the future at all, it’d seemed like too much of a hope that he’d make it out healthy, sure that the price he’d have to pay for his moment in history would be far steeper than he could bare. He didn’t realize at the time the price would have been Bucky. Otherwise he would have taken longer than a second to say yes to Erskine that day all those years ago.

Steve was a mess. He knew that. Every time he’d been to meet with team over the last few weeks, he’d clocked the concerned looks from the three of them. He’d share a beer with Clint afterwards to pass on a file with a summary of all that had been going on, and even Clint had been tactful about what was likely to happen when things eventually kicked off. Steve was worried, The Winter Soldier was a formidable opponent at the best of times, without adding in the reluctance Steve felt at the thought of fighting him.

The only way out was through. Tony had finally come up with a plan that he hoped would get him the evidence they needed, and maybe if they had the chance they could incapacitate Bucky prior to any fight that went down. If Steve could make sure Jimmy and Bucky were somewhere safe, then he knew he’d take down whatever the hell was left of HYDRA without breaking a sweat.

But first, Jimmy was demanding his attention, so he was going to play patty cake and cling on to what he thought a normal life, sans super spy stuff, must feel like.

-

When Steve arrived at his locker in Macy’s staff room to stash his outer layers he was happy but surprised to see Bucky lying in wait for him.

“Hey there, you get the kid off to day care alright?” He asked.

“Yeah Tommy, all settled in for a day of intense playing and naps,” Steve said, smiling at the memory of Jimmy happily going off to day care, rather than the screaming they’d had for the first few days.

“Awesome, you heard about the office staff party?”

“Jackie said something about it, I think Jacob was being smug that interns are not invited.”

“Yep, sounds like Jacob. How’d you feel about getting to come along then?”

Steve startled, they’d been hanging out a lot, but never in a strictly work environment.

“Hey, no pressure, William, I just thought it would be nice if I could bring you along as my date,” he stated.

A thrill ran through him at the thought of dating Bucky, followed by the fact that it was the perfect opportunity to get to the upper floors. Steve considered, that should have probably been his first thought, but he was jolted by the heat that ran through him at the idea of taking Bucky on a proper date.  

Steve nodded, not trusting what he’d sound like.

Bucky beamed at him, the old smile that Steve remembered Bucky shooting him when he was so ecstatically happy he just couldn’t keep it to himself, like the first time he’d kissed Marshy Greenbush after class, or when Steve first managed to land a punch after a week of boxing lessons. He couldn’t help but to smile back just as widely.

“Great. The party’s on Friday, we should go shopping before then – I don’t think I’m wrong in assuming you ain’t got a decent suit ready to go?”

Steve nodded, “Sure, I’ll text you to figure out when works.” Steve couldn’t decide which was making him happier, the fact that they might finally be able to get the evidence they needed to shut HYDRA down, or the fact that he was going on a date with Bucky.

Not Bucky. Steve had the realization that he was 100% sure that Bucky would be horrified at this turn of events. His stomach turned over at the thought. He’d better get that evidence. If they got Bucky back, he’d be able to pass this off as the mission, before any more damage was done.

-

That weekend found Steve, Bucky and Jimmy braving the Macy’s store the weekend before Christmas.

“Not for nothing pal, but I don’t think you can do this on your own.” Bucky insisted, noting the crazy crowds swarming the place, “Plus, me and the kid can play while you’re trying on the monkey suits.”

Which is how Steve found himself at the suit rack in Macy’s, with an excitable toddler and Jimmy. “Seriously, I’ve seen kids less excited about cake than you are about this suit.” Steve said to Bucky, who just shrugged in reply and picked up a dark grey suit for Steve to try. Steve had another momentary flash of their old lives, watching Bucky trawl through the sales racks trying to come up with a suit that would see him through for a while.

“Just want my man to look his best is all.” he replied slyly, smirking at what Steve assumed was the blush he could feel spreading across his face. He ducked his head as Bucky, encouraged by a lack of rebuff shifted the suit he’d just picked up into his left hand, and took Steve’s hand in his right.

Fuck. Holding hands with the Winter Soldier in the middle of Macy’s with a toddler strapped to his chest was never something Steve had pictured in his life.

Steve picked up a black suit in an effort to avoid Bucky’s gaze. “Let’s get this show on the road then.” He muttered, making his way to the nearest changing room, which required him to pull away from Bucky’s hand or drag him with it, it seemed easier to just drag him along.

Which was how Sam found the three of them, when they turned down at the end of the aisle to bump into him once more. Sam smiled at Steve and nodded towards Bucky before taking a moment to focus his attention on Jimmy to say hello.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said.

“It seems it’s our destiny to bump into one another,” Steve replied, he could feel Bucky tightening his grip on Steve’s hand, the tight grip causing a warmth to spread through is chest. Steve shouldn’t find the over protectiveness attractive, but he was finding that he well and truly did. “Funny that in all of New York, I’d bump into the same guy three times!” Bucky’s hand tightened further, swinging him slightly so that Sam would have no choice but to see their handholding.

“Hi,” he said stiffly.

Sam smiled at him again, “Hey man, Sam Wilson, nice to meet ya. William didn’t say he’d got a boyfriend,” he said, looking at Steve. “You keeping any more secrets?” Steve winced at the irony.

“It’s kind of a new thing. Sam, I’d like you to meet Tommy Clinton,” Steve said.

Sam smiled at the three of them. “Listen dude, it’s been nice to see you, but I still got Christmas shopping to do, so we’ll have to catch up later. Hit me up when you got time. See you later William, Tommy, Jimmy.” He said, bumping Jimmy’s hand as he departed. Leaving a glowering Bucky in his wake.

“You ok there, Tommy?” Steve asked, he was sure that from some perspective his dead best friend/pretend/not really pretend boyfriend being jealous of his friendship with Sam would be funny.

Bucky shook himself out of the worst of it, throwing a smile at Steve. “’’Course I am. These suits ain’t going to try themselves on.” He answered, pulling his arm from Steve’s hand and snaking it around his waist as he steered him towards the crowded changing rooms. Bucky’s arm around his waist pulled them closer together and send a pang of longing through Steve.

Steve wished for a montage at that point, that was what happened in the films Natasha and Tony had been foisting on him in an effort to bring him up to date. But instead he just got increasingly sweaty trying on suits in the tiny changing rooms that obviously weren’t meant for tall guys. It was worth it to walk out of the changing room to find Bucky and Jimmy playing together while they waited.

“This is actual torture,” Steve complained after the third suit that refused to sit right on his shoulders. He retreated without even asking Bucky’s opinion.

By some miracle the fourth suit he tried on actually fit. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked decent, even if the trousers were a bit short, and the shirt and jacket would probably start to strain across his chest if he tried to do too much in it. He prayed to god that wouldn’t happen. He didn’t bother showing this one off. It was this or nothing, so Bucky would have to deal with it.

-

After their shopping trip and a brief stop for lunch, Bucky got a call and made his excuses to head off, so Steve and Jimmy made their way back to the Tower. Steve had a final meeting with Pepper on the books to go over what the plan for the party was. Steve was hoping that getting an invite would mean that Pepper and Tony could stay away. He didn’t want to put Pepper at risk. He’d really grown to admire her over their meetings and art discussion. She was a natural with kids, which was probably to be expected since she dealt with Tony all day, but she was kind and caring. He didn’t think for one second that Pepper would have hesitated to do what she had done for William for anyone she came across in the same situation. So if he could keep her out of harm’s way, he would.

Steve watched as Jimmy made his way around the group. He had no problem with making his demands known to Pepper and had started doing the same with Natasha, who pretended to be indifferent, but Steve could tell it meant a lot to her that Jimmy was happy to shuffle himself over to her and make demanding noises until she would read or play with him. She was unsurprisingly great at doing the voices.

Tony still seemed to be in more of a retreat mode, but he made an effort to interact with Jimmy when Pepper was entertaining him.

“So what’s the plan, capman?”

“Well, now that I’ve got access, you and Pepper can sit this one out for a start.”

“No can do good buddy.” Tony said in the most obnoxious way he could, which was plenty obnoxious.

“What Tony means to say, Steve, is that we’ve accepted a formal invitation, if we dropped out this late it might set some alarm bells ringing.  If we go, at the very least we might be able to safely provide a distraction to buy you some time,” Pepper suggested.

“That sounds like our best course of action,” Natasha added. “Clint and I will be providing backup, if Pepper fails to create a distraction, I will.” She shot him an evil smile.

“I’m not going to like this am I?” he asked rhetorically.

“Clint and I have been scoping out the extent of their reach outside of the Macy’s office. And can I just say, we are incredibly lucky they’re sticking with the office for the party, we’re assuming that it’s to keep protection at a high, so we know that something important has to be in there. But as it stands is, our plan is to get the Soldier’s attention by sneaking in.”

“WHAT?!”

“Chill Steve, we don’t have a lot of options, and this way we know that his attention will be on us, not you, for however long you need to get in and get that information. Tony’s going to cause dramatics inside the office, we’re the outside distraction and you’re the honey pot.”

“What if he captures you?” Steve asked.

“He’s going to be in party mode, even with the arm he isn’t going to have his normal stash of gadgets and gismos, but you’ll be there to distract him. As soon as the call comes, try and delay him from getting out of there, Clint and I will make sure we’ve got enough time to get away and to keep him distracted while you do your thing.”

The plan in place, Steve gathered up Jimmy and the USB before making his way home. Pepper insisted on Happy driving them both back, and Steve was unsurprised to find a state of the art car seat in the back when Happy pulled in to pick them up.

On the drive back Steve drifted off in thought, he knew he should be focused on the mission, there were so many ways it could go wrong. Thinking about the mission inevitably meant thinking about Bucky which turned into replaying how much Steve had enjoyed their trip, Bucky’s arm securely wrapped around him, steering him clear of other shoppers. Fuck, Steve thought with feeling. He was totally fucked.

-

On the night of the party Steve thought he was prepared until 2 hours before Bucky was due to pick him up he realized his one fatal mistake. He didn’t have a baby sitter. Stuck in the apartment, he couldn’t make a call to anyone, and there was a good chance his phone had been bugged, Tommy had plenty of chance to do so on their dates.

The entire roster of people Steve knew were going to be busy: Clint would have been perfect, but was helping Natasha, Happy was on escort duties to Pepper and Tony, and Fury was not a viable option that Steve would consider even if he wasn’t about to go on a covert mission.

The only other people he really knew in New York were the therapist he’d seen for two weeks when he’d first been defrosted and Sam.

Sam!

Steve had never been so grateful to have fate throw a person in his path. He just hoped Sam could help out.

“William?” Sam asked as soon as he picked up. “What’s up dude?”

“Sam,” Steve gasped out. “Sam, I really, need your help.”

“Is Jimmy alright? Is everything ok? What can I do?” The order of his questions heartened Steve.

“Yeah, Jimmy is doing just great, it’s actually part of why I need your help.” Steve said.

“Wait,” Sam said. “Wait one god damned minute, I know that tone. It’s the Sam, help me your my only hope tone. The one that normally comes before a request for a baby sitter.” Sam teased.

“How the hell do you do that?” Steve asked.

“Experience, let me tell you. There are only so many desperate phone calls from sisters you can take without figuring that one out. So, you need a baby sitter?” he said.

“Yes, I mean, if you’re free? I’m sorry to ask, but literally everyone I know in New York is out tonight, and I’ve got a date with Tommy.” Steve startled to realize that the date with Bucky was ranking higher than his actual mission. He was in deep here, and he needed to get out.

“I mean. It’s our first official date, technically. I mean, I don’t think the hot dogs counted. He’s taking me to the staff party. If it was any other situation I’d just cancel, but...” Steve stopped, hopeless.

“Not everyone, I can come take care of the little dude, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun.”

Steve could have wept in relief. “Are you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure, look, I get it. It’s hard work being a single parent. I mean, in future a little more notice would be great! But lucky for you I ain’t got nowhere to be on a Friday night in New York City. Which actually sounds depressing as hell now I say it out loud. When do you want me over?”

“Seriously, Wilson you are the best. As soon as you can get here. And honestly, I can’t say thanks enough.”

“Don’t sweat it, I’ll figure out some way for you to repay me.”

Sam turned up 40 minutes later with a box of pizza and a calming effect on Steve’s tiny apartment. Unfortunately that didn’t extend to Steve, who had progressed from being stressed over how stupid he was for not planning a babysitter, to how stupid this entire plan was and how stupid he in particular was for whatever the hell he’d let happen with Tommy.

Sam took one look at him, plucked Jimmy from his hands and shooed him off to his room. “Go get ready, you’re freaking out the kid.”

Steve sunk to the edge of the bed. His emotions were all over the place, and it wasn’t mission nerves. Steve didn’t get mission nerves, but apparently he did get the jitters at the idea of a date with Bucky. Tommy. The Soldier. Nothing sounded like a better idea than having a crisis right before an important mission where he had a team depending on him and ok, so maybe he did get pre-mission nerves.

He took a deep breath, trying to hold back the panic he could feel waiting to consume him. So he’d been sort of dating a man, which in hindsight was slightly more obvious than he realized. That man also happened to be his dead best friend. Which also made sense, Steve thought. If he was going to date a man, Bucky would have always been his first choice. Steve had always loved Bucky that was never in question, he’d do anything for him and he was sure Bucky would do the same. A fact he was worried that would shortly need to put to the test, but still true. Steve wondered if he’d always been _in love_ with Bucky, his feelings towards the man he had known hadn’t changed at all in the last few weeks, just deepened. Steve wondered if, all those years spent together had been just a fraction of what they could have had.

Steve’s mom always said he was good at ignoring emotions when they didn’t suit him. The fact that his dead best friend was now a HYDRA operative known for his long and bloody track record for killing people was a harder pill to swallow, but even now Steve was sure of one thing, as much as they’d tried to erase Bucky from their assassin, he was still there. Every action of Tommy’s was filled with the same compassion, intelligence and loyalty. Steve just had to bring Bucky back to him. The whole Steve being in love with him would have to be delayed for another day.

Steve picked himself up, went to his closet where his newly pressed suit was waiting and geared up. He was going to make this the best fake-not fake- official first date in history.

-

When Steve finally emerged from his room, he was composed and ready for whatever this night had to throw at him. He made his way over to where Sam and Jimmy were playing on the floor.

“You look better, everything sorted?”

“Yeah, thanks. Just needed a second. What are you two doing down there?” Steve asked, eyeing up the small tower that seemed to be under construction.

“Just getting our build on, Jimmy is an excellent brick picker.” Jimmy beamed at Sam, and held out the next brick to be stacked.

The doorbell rang out, sending a thrill through Steve. “Be right back, buddy,” he said, crossing the room in two quick strides to open the door.

Bucky smiled at Steve, as he opened the door, and spent a long moment looking Steve up and down, a dark glint in his eye, which quickly fell into a frown when he spotted Sam.

Sam just waved happily and shouted a greeting.

Steve smothered a snigger. “Hey Tommy, want to come in for a minute? I’m just saying good night to Jimmy.”

The pair made their way back to the construction site, as soon as he was in range, Jimmy was attempting to shuffle and made grabby hands at Steve, whining to be picked up. Steve gladly did so, swinging him up and, snuggling the kid closer to him. Jimmy reached out a hand and grabbed hold of Bucky’s tie, at which point Steve realized how closely together they’d been standing, he smiled over at Bucky only to be interrupted by the flash of Sam’s camera.

“What?” He said at their join glare, “What have you got against a nice date night photograph?”

That seemed to be all the push that Bucky needed to start moving things along, and after cuddles with Jimmy, they were both out of the door and speeding towards the Christmas party. Bucky reached over and clasped Steve’s hand, smiling a sweet smile in his direction and they made their way across town.

-

The party was in full swing by the time they arrived. Bucky spent a little time introducing him to his colleagues as they made the rounds, each swiping a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.

“Pretty plush office party,” Steve said, but was saved from further awkward small talk when both Jackie and Jacob descended on him with their dates, asking after Jimmy and complementing Steve on how well he tidied up.

Bucky snuck away to speak with a stern looking older gentleman while Steve chatted with his friends. Steve kept an eye on him and saw the two retreat to an office that was front and center of the floor space. Bingo. He thought to himself, now he just had to figure out how to get in there.

Before Bucky could return, Pepper and Tony made their way over, Pepper being effusive with her praise of Steve’s artwork and how she couldn’t wait to have the finished pieces hanging in the gallery. Bucky returned to find Steve genuinely stammering at Peppers admiration of his artwork, Bucky wrapped his arm around Steve’s waist, beaming with pride.

“His stuff is impressive,” Bucky said offering his hand to Pepper, “Tommy Clinton, it’s a really honor to meet you Ms. Potts, and, if I may, that is a wonderful dress you’re wearing this evening.”

Pepper demurred, “Tommy, William has mentioned you in passing, it’s a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for noticing, it has pockets!” The group exchanged polite laughter. “Now, you’ll have to excuse us, we’ve got roughly every board member to meet and greet, and I have to make sure that happens before Tony gets too bored and starts causing a scene.” With that they swept off leaving Steve and Bucky alone.

“So, where did you sneak off to?” Steve asked.

“Nowhere exciting, just had to check with the boss about a favor I’d asked him.” Before Steve could probe more Tommy said, “Let’s dance.” And swept Steve into his arms and onto the dance floor.

Where Steve promptly stumbled. Covert missions, sure. But DANCING? That just wasn’t fair. Steve could barely coordinate his feet enough to stay up right when dancing, something Buck had taken no end of pleasure in teasing him about. It seemed this version of Bucky shared that trait, laughing outright at the horror on Steve’s face.

“Don’t worry, William,” he said tenderly, “I’ve got you. Don’t look at your feet, look at me.” 

Steve made eye contact with Bucky. For all the time he had spent with Bucky in the past and with Tommy in the now, he hadn’t ever been in this situation. His heart fluttered at the closeness, as Tommy’s eyes flicked down to his slightly parted mouth, his tongue quickly flipping out to whet his lower lip. Steve had an errant thought that Jacob was right, he did look a little like a sexy frog.

He proceeded to lead Steve across the floor, without much grace, but with no accidental injuries. Until they ended up in a spot close to the office that Bucky had entered earlier. Steve must have made a noise, because Bucky’s eyes shot back down to Steve’s mouth before muttering something under his breath, and stealing Steve away into the same office where Steve needed to be.

Steve stared at Bucky, unsure of how to proceed. “William,” Bucky said, leaning closer, their noses almost touching, “If you don’t want me to just –”

Steve made to move forward into the kiss before a burst of static noise had Bucky turning away and exchanging words that a normal human wouldn’t have been able to hear, but which Steve picked up perfectly.

“Sir, Black Widow and the archer have been spotted near our perimeter. Requesting back up.” Bucky cursed under his breath, quickly turning back around to Steve.

“I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go.” He tried to move past Steve, but in an effort to buy Natasha and Clint time Steve decided to try honestly addressing Williams’s feelings in this moment.

“WHAT? What, what did I do?” Steve tried.

Bucky clasped Steve’s shoulder. “William, I promise that it’s nothing you’ve done, but I’ve got a situation I’ve got to take care of.” He gazed into Steve’s eyes, and tried to gently push him out of the way. Steve didn’t let himself be pushed. Stall. He had to stall.

“What’s going on?” Steve said hoping his annoyance at being abandoned showed through. Steve wasn’t shocked to find his annoyance at the interruption was real, rather than a stalling tactic.

“I swear, I promise William, it’s nothing you need to worry about, but if I don’t see to this issue now, I could lose my job.” He was so earnestly trying not to hurt Steve that he it did anyway. Even as a brainwashed assassin attempting to kill Steve’s friends, Bucky was still looking out to protect him from harm.

Steve figured he’d given Natasha enough of a head start, and nodded to Bucky, moving out of the way of the door. Bucky opened the door, but turned to Steve before he left. “Wait here for me? Please?”

Giving Steve the perfect opportunity. He quickly swung into action, across the desk and had the USB plugged in within seconds. Steve prayed that Tony was as clever as he thought he was as the stuff started to happen on the screen. Hurry. Hurry, he thought mentally counting down the seconds. Natasha estimated that she could keep the Soldier on the hunt for approximately twenty minutes, Tony estimated the data would be collected in fifteen to twenty minutes, so depending on how long it took, Steve could be in trouble.

At the 18 minutes mark, a commotion started outside of the office. Fuck, Bucky must have chased them off quicker than anticipated, it sounded like Tony was in the middle of being a distraction. He wished Pepper luck, preoccupied as the device finally notified him it was ready. Steve scooped up the USB and had it back in his pocket with seconds to spare as Bucky walked through the door, looking slightly unkempt, to find Steve leaning against the desk, attempting to pose like he hadn’t been doing anything untoward.

“Sorry about that.” He approached Steve, Steve noted, with a bit of a limp. The tense mood between them from before was gone, and Tommy looked as unhappy about that as Steve felt. “I think I should probably get you home, something’s come up.”

“Ok.” Steve said. Making his way over to Bucky as he slotted their hands together.  “No problem. Truth be told, I’m missing Jimmy anyway.” The fact that meant Steve would be able to avoid an akward conversation that he could feel looming and that he’d be able to get the UBS back quicker was the icing on the cake.

Steve and Bucky left the office to find Pepper berating Tony just outside of it. Steve hoped it was an act, but who could be sure with Stark? “Never Tony, NEVER have I been so angry with you. What the hell were you thi–” Pepper noticed them and stopped herself. “William, sorry about that.” She said shooting a glare at Tony.

“No worries, Ms. Potts. I’m heading out now though, so it was lovely to see you again.” Steve said, Pepper took the initiative to come over and give him a friendly hug, covertly sneaking the USB from Steve into one of the many pockets on her dress. That took care of one of Steve’s tasks for the evening.

“And you, William, I do hope you bring that adorable baby to come and visit again soon,” she said, stepping back and throwing another foul look at Tony before elegantly striding away, leaving Stark to less elegantly follow her. Beside him Bucky laughed.

“Some day, huh?” He said, escorting Steve home.

-

They’d kept the mood between them light as Bucky walked Steve to his door. “Look, about what happened in the office.” Bucky looked like he was about to apologize for trying to kiss him and Steve couldn’t think of anything he wanted to hear less, so without giving it much thought, he reached out and cradled Bucky’s face in his hands, signaling his intention, before slowly drawing in closer to finally kiss him. He honestly didn’t know if he’d ever get the chance again, so Steve planned to make the most of it.

They both panted as their lips made contact. At first it was just a gentle press until Bucky made a sound of longing that bypassed Steve’s thought and had him clutching Bucky closer, heads titling to deepen the kiss.

Before they could get anymore into it, Steve’s door rattled, and Sam could be heard laughing as the pair sprung apart, caught necking on his own doorstep Steve thought. He looked up from his bowed head to share a smile with Bucky, only to see complete mortification there.

Bucky took a staggering step backwards, and Steve took one towards him as if pulled on a string. “Tommy, are you ok?” He asked nervously.

Bucky’s jaw worked for a few seconds, no sound coming out, before he whispered “Steve.” his face a picture of horror. He turned and ran and was out of the door before Steve could even start moving. By the time Steve had managed to get outside, Bucky was gone, no sign of him up or down the road, and his car left parked across the street. It had definitely been Bucky that had gasped his name. Steve though in numb horror. Gasped his name and then fled into the night. Well, at least he had a firm understand of just how bad he was at kissing, he thought to himself hysterically sinking down on to the stoop.

-

Sam came to fetch him some time later, convincing Steve to come back inside to Jimmy, and, with a start, Steve regained his senses at the same time his phone started to ring.

“Hey there, William, this is Clint, your landlord. Look, I know it’s the middle of the night, but there’s been reports of…gas. Yeah, gas in your apartment, so I’m going to need you to clear out for the night? You get what I’m saying buddy?” Shit, Clint was telling him to get out of the flat. Things must have gone worse than anticipated. Steve made a noise of agreement. “Good to hear, a mutual friend of ours is sending a car for you right away. Got it?” Steve agreed again. He had to get Jimmy and Sam to safety, and he needed to know what was going on.

“Sam, this is going to sound weird, but I need you to come with me to Avengers Tower.”

“William, everything ok?”

“Sure, just trust me on this one, we need to get to the Tower.” At Steve’s insistence, they quickly went back inside and gathered Jimmy and his supplies before heading outside to climb in the car that pulled up with Happy frantically waving at them to get a move on. “I’ll be right back.” Steve said once he’d got Jimmy fastened in, doubling back and mentally apologizing to Clint has he broke his door down to retrieve his shield. He was pretty sure he was going to need it soon enough.

He made it back to the car, and they set off moments before a black SUV pulled up outside of the apartment block, a group wearing tactical gear spilling out and heading into the building.

-

The Tower was all systems go as soon as the four of them exited the car and made their way up to the penthouse.

“William, you got something you need to tell me, buddy?” Sam had been a paragon of virtue to Steve, but Steve thought that even he must have limits. How did you go about telling someone your entire friendship had been somewhat of a lie?

Tony saved him the task, as soon as they exited the elevator.

“Steve, we have a bit of a problem, in fact what I think I’d like to say is we’re in it up to our eyeballs.”

“What the hell is going on man, and since when are you called Steve?” he trailed off glancing around his surroundings. “Steve as in Steve Rogers?” He guessed correctly.

“Sam, I’m so sorry, please let me explain.”

“Oh this I can’t wait to hear,” he said.

“I was undercover, you have to understand that I wouldn’t have deceived you if it wasn’t important to national security.” Steve started, but Sam was already nodding.

“Alright, calm down. I mean, I guess I know why you looked so familiar now.” Steve stared in shock, “Hey, its fine, I get it. You gotta do what’s right for the mission. No offense. Look, I’ll just get out of your hair and leave you to it.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Natasha said, making an entrance as she walked down the stairs from the upper level, in her full Black Widow outfit. “The Winter Soldier knows you, which means you’re safer here.”

“Who the hell is The Winter Soldier? Wait, if he knows me and I’m not safe, my family aren’t going to be safe either.” Sam said with worry in his voice.

“I’ve got a team collecting them as we speak, they’ll be taken to a safe house until this is over.” Natasha vowed.

“How did you-” Sam started to ask.

“Know who you are? I background check all of Steve’s friends. Nice to meet you, Sam Wilson, formally of the United States Air Force.” Natasha answered, smiling brightly as Steve scowled at her prying ways. 

“Anybody want to take a shot at explaining exactly what’s going on to me?” Sam asked, his voice falling from its normal affable tone into something much deeper.

The group gathered at the seating area, Jimmy had fussed for a few minutes at all of the commotion, but quickly settled back down. He was such a good little sleeper, Steve thought to himself with a smile.

Natasha took one look at Steve and launched into recapping

“So in summary,” Tony was finally wrapping up. “SHIELD has been infiltrated by HYDRA, HYDRA are currently sucking the power from my beautiful generator—JARVIS, you’ve cut off power now, right? I don’t really care to keep helping them—to make teddy bears into robot bombs that are coordinated to hold people hostage in their own homes, and The Winter Soldier, formally Bucky Barnes, maybe currently Bucky Barnes has fled into the night, after exchanging a kiss with Captain Honey Pot here?”

Steve half-heartedly glared at Sam. He guessed he’d had that bit of retribution coming. He could forgive him for telling the team about the kiss in the light of everything else Sam had dealt with tonight. 

“What was that about the evil teddy bear bombs?” Sam asked.

“So’s best I can figure, the power they’ve been sucking from me, which I am now even more royally pissed about, is being harvested by some doohicky, which allows them to super-condense the power in it to a charged cell, just waiting for the right command to set it off. The charges are being housed in—if my ability to read a schematic is good, and it is—cute little cuddly teddy bears of all shapes and sizes. I haven’t quite figured out what the plan for the delightful little bombs is, but I figure it’s not anything nice, and seeing as we are two days around the corner from Christmas, I’m going to hazard a guess that it’ll be going down soon.”

Much to everyone’s alarm and dismay, Pepper rounded the corner, cradling a teddy bear that had a big Macy’s tag dangling off of it. Steve moved as quickly as he could, sweeping his shield from the floor, and was across the room with the teddy pinned under it within 7 seconds.

“Tony, please tell me that there isn’t a bomb under my shield.”

“I’m afraid he can’t, Captain,” came the reply from JARVIS.

“What do we do? Tony, Jimmy is in this room, what the hell do I do?” 

“Wait wait wait. JARVIS, did you get a scan of the bear?”

“Yes, Sir, unfortunately it wasn’t until Miss Potts had already entered the room, but I did complete a scan before the Captain covered the bomb up.”

“Bomb?” Pepper said, “what the hell did I miss?”

“Pep, light of my life, love of my heart, where the hell did you get that bear?”

“Stu dropped it off when he brought the tickets for the party over the other day. I’m assuming we aren’t friends with Stu anymore?”

“You’re damned Skippy we’re not.”

“Stark,” Steve snapped, “if you could focus on the bomb for a second.”

Natasha approached them. “I’ve sent Sam to take Jimmy as far as he can within the building. If the bomb hasn’t gone off yet, then I’m going to assume its either set on a timer or it’s rigged to go when it receives a signal.”

“Tony, have you got any way to safely contain this thing so it doesn’t explode in our faces?”

“Are you kidding me? What do you want me to do, stash it in one of my suits…JARVIS!”

“Sir, which suit would you prefer? The deep sea or experimental space variants are most likely to be able to withstand or, at least, contain a blast equivalent to the mini Arc reactor exploding.”

“Deep sea, if the kaijus haven’t attacked by now, let’s hope they won’t at all.”

“Right away, sir.”

Steve was still awkwardly crouched over the shield, praying that _he_ didn’t have to withstand a blast equivalent to a mini Arc reactor. 

“So Captain, my Captain, oh Captain, when JARVIS has finished navigating the Mark 37, here’s what we’re going to do: JARVIS is going to slowly move the suit to maintain the exact same pressure on the shield, just in case it’s pressure sensitive and ready to blow. Then we’re going to hightail it to the stairwell in the corner. Pep, I hope to god your heels are off, because you need to run. In fact, what am I saying, Natasha, take Pepper and make your way down the stairs.”

“You too, Stark, without a suit you’re equally at risk.”

“If you insist. While we’re doing that, JARVIS will be figuring out how to get that teddy from under the shield and into the suit in the quickest manner possible, right buddy?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Ok, guys and girls, let’s get this show on the road.”

Steve, joined by JARVIS at his side, waited until they’d cleared the room. “JARVIS, you ready?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“On three. One, two, three.” Steve was up and vaulting over the banner on the upper floor, rolling to cushion his fall as he sped towards the stairwell, jumping down as the stairs quickly as he could. He soon caught up to the others.

“JARVIS, report?”

“Sir, it appears we are in the clear.”

“The bomb isn’t armed?”

“The bomb isn’t actually a bomb,” JARVIS stated.

“Buddy, you got some ‘splaining to do.” Tony said, as the group started to head back into the living quarters, to find JARVIS still operating the suit. “So where’s the bear that’s not a bomb.”

“Still in the suit, Sir.”

Steve was disconcerted to have a physical body to address when he was talking to JARVIS. “What happened?”

“The initial—and quick—scan that I performed on the bear did show it to be possessed of a charged cell of roughly the same dimensions that Sir suspects the charged cells have. However, once I had the bear in my possession, I was able to run a more comprehensive scan to against the schematics. The bear does hold a charger pack, but it is a standard battery pack, with none of the signs of a bomb.”

“So we’ve got bomb bears and none-bomb bears.”

“It would appear so, yes, Sir.”

“Let it never be said we don’t live in interesting times,” Stark commented as the group resettled themselves in the seating area.

Sam returned with Jimmy who was bouncing in his arms, attempt to reach back to Steve, babbling at him while making grabby hands, causing Steve to nearly melt inside. He scooped the kid up, tossing him in lightly in the air, making him shriek in delight.

“Hey Jimmy James, how you doing little fella?” He looked down at Jimmy, steeling his resolve. Jesus, if things had gone even slightly different Jimmy could have been killed. “Team, we need a plan, we need it ASAP and once this is all done and dusted we need to get this little dude back home to his mom.” Steve announced to the group. For the world, they needed to defeat HYRDA once more, but Steve needed to get Jimmy back to his mom, before he couldn’t let him go.

The group nodded in agreement and started to plot.

-

Tommy, wait. That wasn’t right. Bucky, Bucky. Bucky came back to his senses slowly, pacing again. He’d gone to ground and holed himself up in an abandoned factory just off of the Brooklyn shoreline after he’d fled from Steve. And HYDRA. He was sure they wouldn’t be too far behind. Hopefully the three tracking devices he’d found and promptly stuck to people he passed as he made his way across town would keep them off his trail for a while.

Steve. Holy fuck, how was he going to explain this to Steve? Even brainwashed and missing all of his memories it seemed that he’d always love Steve. But Steve hadn’t seemed too worried about that when he was Tommy. Which meant that Steve had to know what he was and what he’d done.

Fuck. What was he gonna do? He’d be fucked if he knew what had happened in his brain. It was almost like Steve kissing him had flipped a long buried failsafe, rebooting him to a previous version. The version with all of his memories, fuck. All of his memories and a million miles more of regrets and misdeeds. The shit that he’d done as the Asset simmered just below his overwhelming panic about Steve, lying in wait to consume him with guilt. Fuck fuck fuck. FUCK. He lashed out with his metal arm, almost putting it through the brick wall he’d stalked up to.

He needed a plan. There was no doubt in his mind that he had to go back, Steve needed protection. Jimmy, and holy hell Steve had a kid. How had that happened? Jesus, Jimmy needed him too. If they didn’t know how far and wide HYDRA was spread they were going to be in danger.

So Bucky needed to fix that. He needed intel, he needed evidence, and he needed weaponry. Luckily both the Asset and Bucky knew where to get their grubby metal hand on all of that. Bucky smiled to himself, a cold dark smile full of retribution for the fucksticks that had done this to him. He was looking forward to taking this shit out on as many HYDRA agents as he could.

-

The team had gone their separate ways to get some rest, and Sam had trailed after Steve and Jimmy, unsure of where else to go in the Tower.

“So, my new buddy is Captain America, huh?” Sam said.

“That’s me. I really hope you can forgive me Sam. Natasha had it right when she that you’re the first friend I’ve managed to make this side of the century, I don’t want to lose your friendship over this, but I’ll understand if that’s what happens,” Steve said. He really hoped Sam could understand.

“I do get it, sometimes you have to lie to maintain the truth. I’ve kind of got a truth of my own I need to share,” he said. “I hope you being Captain America will negate my NDA. Back in the Air Force, I was in the para-rescue division. Me and my buddy Riley, we were test pilots for a winged jetpack prototype. He was KIA, got his stupid ass knocked out of the sky, nothing I could do to save him. I got out, soon as I could. But I know what it’s like, when you’ve got the skills, you gotta do what’s right. So, I get it. I forgive you for the deceit, now gimme that kid and get yourself ready. You’ve got a bunch of Nazis to punch.”

Steve handed Jimmy over, not sure what to say in return. Sam shooed him away and Steve went to organise himself, starting with a shave for the first time in over a month.

-

Between the six of them and Jimmy they had a solid plan in place by the time Christmas Eve rolled around the next morning.

The teddy bear’s picnic (Steve had voiced his dismay at letting Tony name this one) plan wasn’t as complex as they had imagined. They knew certain facts for sure:

The mechanism used to control and detonate the bears was in the main office in Macy’s.

HYDRA was waiting to complete their mission before they set off the bears off. There were two different streams of attack waiting to happen. The first was  in which bears had been delivered to a wealth of dignitaries, politicians and the like The second, and much more worrying, was a literal army of walking bear bombs that the team had calculated to be in the basement of Macy’s.

The USB had contained strategic plans for deployment of the second cohort of bear. They’d be covertly sneaking into homes all over the city of New York on Christmas Eve. Sealth teams were due to commence the op in the early hours of the morning, escorting trucks of the bears around the city in time for a Christmas Morning Massacre.

Which meant that they had a very tight time frame to stop the attack. Tony had been hard at work and had developed a software hack that would rewire the controls to make the bears lose their explosive charge in a slow and steady way, rather than all at once in an explode-y way. Leaving them harmless, yet still freaky.

Their plan boiled down to gaining entrance into Macy’s afterhours and hacking their way through as many HYDRA agents as they needed to in order to get to the control office.

JARVIS had been monitoring as many data feeds as possible and had managed to gain limited access to the sub-network operating under SHIELD and through Macy’s. While it was true that evil never slept, it did seem to slow down around Christmas, just like any other massively bureaucratic agency. All non-HYDRA staff were safely out of the way, clearing the playing field of potential civilian casualties. A second unexpected helping hand came to them due to the large number of agents that had been deployed to hunt down the Winter Soldier. Even though that news had left Steve in worried mother hen mode on a more permanent basis than Tony was really comfortable with, it meant that HYDRA’s base of operations was understaffed.

Regardless of what was happening in SHIELD, this was the pressing threat. So the team, minus Sam and Pepper, who had assumed monitoring and babysitting duties, suited up.

Steve and Stark were the heavy hitters. They’d be going in hard and fast to draw out the remaining agents, to give Barton and Romanov a chance to infiltrate in a more covert fashion.

Tony hummed the Teddy Bear’s Picnic theme as he donned his suit. Time to get serious.

-

“Romanov, Barton, Stark. Are you in location yet?” 

A chorus of ‘Affirmative’ echoed at him. Followed by Starks’ humming.

“Stark, I swear to god if you don’t stop humming that damn song I’m going to stick an explosive arrow straight up your –”

“Barton, radio silence from now on. We go on the next minute mark. I don’t think I need to tell you how much is at stake here. Let’s cut this damn head off before we burn the rest of HYDRA to the ground.”

Silence rained as they waited for the hour to arrive.

On the hour mark, JARVIS kicked off their attack by busting through their security systems to unlock doors, flash lights, set the fire alarm and sprinkler systems off, and generally cause as much disarray as possible.

Steve and Stark went in first. Stark had opted to take a direct route straight through the upper story windows and head first into the main patrol that had been spotted on the fifth floor. Steve waited to see what he needed – most of the closest patrol to him abandoning their posts to battle against Iron Man.

Steve made quick work of the two remaining guards, knocking them out and chaining them together before heading for the basement. Steve was on containment, Stark was distraction, and Barton and Romanov were taking the office.

“We’re in. Natasha is…Natasha is handing an overzealous Nazi his ass, you know, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of watching her punching Nazis in the face. And she’s back to the terminal. Stark, this thing is definitely plug and play, right?”

“Sure thing, Katniss.”

“Ok, it seems to be doing something. Any idea how long it’s going to need?”

“Time.”

“Great. Fuck, Nat, company is coming.”

Steve finished securing the basement as best he could. He turned to make his way up to the fray, it sounded like Clint and Nat could use some assistance, but as he stepped away and an ominous noise sounded from the doors he’d just barred. As he turned, there was an almighty explosion that blew the heavily reinforced doors straight at him. One clipped him on the head, causing him to go down. He managed to hang onto consciousness just enough to see the first teddy appear in the doorway, creepily titling its head as it assessed the almost unconscious supersoilder on the floor.

-

Natasha found that punching Nazis, while technically just part of her job, was incredibly therapeutic, who knew?

They’d managed to locate and infiltrate the head office with relative ease, taking out the HYDRA team stationed there. But that luck didn’t seem to be holding out. Stark wasn’t quite so attention grabbing when someone was in the throne room.

“Steve, do you copy?” Natasha asked for the third time.

“I don’t think he does. Stark, what was the last sit rep on Steve?”

“He was heading to the basement to scope things out and try and get it secured.”

Clint caught movement out of the corner of his eye, too low down to be an agent, but apparently just the right height to be a robotic teddy bear.

“Guys, we got incoming of the short and cuddly variety.”

“What?” Stark demanded.

“One, nope two. Wait, 8 of the little fuckers just toddled their way into the main hall of the offices. Do we know if these things can detonate themselves? I’m kind of worried we’re about to be suicide bear bombed.”

“They shouldn’t be self-detonating.”

“Stark, that sounded neither confident nor entirely truthful.”

“Shit. I’m pretty sure there has to be an external trigger. I mean, I guess shooting them might blow them up as well, but I’d avoid that if possible. You deal with that. I’m going to find Steve. Natasha, make sure the program finishes up loading before you kick it off and get the hell out of dodge.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, the robotic bears are increasing in number, extremely mobile and hitting all of those good old fashioned fight or flights. I’m going to be having nightmares about this for weeks,” Clint said, keeping an eye on the ever increasing number of cuddly teddies slowly marching two by two towards his and Natasha’s location. 

“I’m not entirely sure how the hell you’re going to take down an army of robotic freak shows.”

Before Clint could work his way up into a rant, a voice behind him muttered, “EMP.”

Clint manfully contained the shriek that was resting in his throat, turning to take his eyes off the evil bears. The Winter Soldier stood behind him, hands in the air, but perhaps more petrifying because of it.

A gun clicked at his temple as Natasha stepped out from the shadows.

“You make one move, Soldier, and I blow your brains out.”

He stood perfectly still, until one of the robobears clicked a little too close for comfort, without turning, Clint took out an EMP arrow and shot it into the center mass of the hoard. He didn’t turn but could see from Natasha’s satisfied smile that it had done the trick.

“Seems a little pedestrian for this kind of tech.”

“Sure does, they tried to eliminate the fault, but due to the size of the bots, it would have taken more resources than they were willing to spare. Plus, they’ve got a literal army of the fuckers in the basement, I’m not too sure they were worried about losing a few to EMPs.”

Natasha paled. “Fuck. Steve? Steve?” she tried her comms, the comms remained silent.

“Steve’s down there?” The Soldier asked. “Fucking typical. You get brainwashed one time, and no one else thinks to stop him from doing stupid shit?”

This was not The Winter Soldier Clint remembered. He was much less shooty than their last encounter.

“Listen, you don’t have to believe me, but I know who I am, and I know what I’ve done. But I need to get to Steve and get him out of here. Fuck knows what he’ll have got himself into now.”

Natasha lowered her gun minutely, and the Soldier slowly moved his glinting arm down, pulling out a small box from his person.

“This box has got what you need to help you take down HYDRA from inside SHIELD.” He tossed the box to Clint, who just about managed to not drop it. “It’s got an eye and a finger.”

Clint kind of wished he had dropped it.

“For the security scan, you’ll need another alpha-level clearance, but with that you should be able to expose them. You don’t have to trust me, but please let me help rescue Steve and put these fuckers down.”

Natasha took a moment to consider her options, but Clint was already nodding. Regardless of who stood before him now, he’d seen the way Tommy Clinton looked at Steve on one of the many visits to his apartment block. He had a good feeling about this. “Go get your man. Nat, I’ll hold these little fuckers off, you make sure Stark’s toy does its stuff.”

The three of them went their separate ways.

-

The basement was eerily quiet was the first thing that Tony noticed. He’d tried scanning the lower levels, but he knew it was useless, whatever they’d reinforced the walls with played hell with his scanners and their comms.

Going as stealthy as one could in a gigantic set of automated body armour, he rounded a corner to a sight that he’d never imagined possible: Steve Rogers strapped down, surrounded by an army of robobears. He was unconscious, but had clearly put up a fight. Clenched in one hand was the severed head of a bear. Tony wished he had a HD camera. Oh wait! He snapped a picture of the scene, which was his downfall, as at once a room full of robobears swivelled their heads to stare in his direction. Well damn. 

Luckily for him, as many of the little fuckers as there were, not a one of them could fly. Tony took off, keeping as high as he could, out of the way of the writhing mass of bears that had swarmed the entire stairwell. He didn’t want to waste the EMPs he had, and anything else might denote the bears. He broke through to the first floor and was headed up to collect the wonder twins. They needed to shut this down and rescue Cap. He collided with a fast moving person sized object, assuming a HDYRA agent, he had the agent two feet off the ground with a metal hand around his neck in a second.

“Why, if it isn’t the infamous Winter Soldier?” Tony said, he’d been kind of right about the HYDRA agent. Steve might trust this guy, but Tony didn’t have the same blinkers. Tony made to throw him into the nearest wall, but the Soldier’s metal arm clamped around Tony’s metal armoured arm and he was shocked to find his was the one bending under the pressure.

“Stark, please listen to me. I’ve got to help Steve. Check with Barton, I’m trying to save him.”

“Barton, have you been making friends while I’ve been away?”

“Bit busy, Stark.”

“Uhuh, so why does tall dark and metal here tell me you’ve brought him into the fold?”

“The Soldier? He’s helping, Stark, either leave him to it, or give him a hand. We got bigger problems.”

Tony reluctantly let go of the Soldier, braced for a retaliation that never materialized. “He’s in the basement, surrounded by a critical mass of cute destruction. I was trying to get to him, but I’d have been over run in seconds. How do you think you’re going to manage?”

“I’m going to get Steve out of there. The bears shouldn’t react to me, they are programed to recognise HYDRA agents in order to minimise losses. I’m going to go down there, pick Steve off up his stubborn ass and set off the strongest EMP I’ve got. I doubt it’ll penetrate the reinforced walls, but you might want to get out of here before I do so. Unless your suit can handle an EMP?”

“Gotcha. I’ll head up to Romanov, these fuckers should be down by now, and so I can only assume my brilliance is needed to get the shutdown working.”

“Stark, you’ve got 10 minutes. After that I’m setting off that EMP and getting the hell out of here.”

They parted ways. Tony decided to take a short cut out of one window and straight up. He noticed that a perimeter of cops and rescue services were cutting off a sea of black SUVs, that JARVIS politely informed him matched registrations of HDYRA vehicles he’d found. Tony figured the roaming helicopters were deterring them from simply breaking through to come and defend their territory. Go public servants!

Tony arrived in time to fire off an energy pulse at a bear attempting to climb Clint. He couldn’t quite figure out why they were swarming. They didn’t have any sort of tactical ability, they couldn’t explode without prompting and this was the weirdest cuddly bear time imaginable.

He quickly stepped into the office, where Natasha was furiously trying to get the system to work. He moved her aside, figuring out the problem, and rectifying it.  Almost immediately, confirmation sounded in the office that all external bots had been disarmed. JARVIS echoed the sentiment, he’d managed to track down and monitor some of the nearby bears that had already been delivered.

Which, Tony realised, just left the million or so they seemed to be surrounded by in the office to deal with. He hoped that the Soldier’s EMP was good enough to do the damage they needed in the basement.

“Right then,” he said to Clint and Natasha, “time to clean house.”

The three of them assumed a strategic pattern which seemed to work on the masses of bears. In no time, the combination of Clint’s EMP arrows and Natasha’s Widow bites which had been hastily reconfigured to emit enough of a pulse to knock the bears out, not blow them up.  Tony had the time of his life ploughing through the little fuckers, scattering them so that they could move around without being ambushed by clinging teddies.

They made quick work of sweeping each floor, taking down all of the robobears in their path, and finally made it to the ground floor. Fairly certain they’d caught all of the bears that had escaped the basement. 

“Time to go, kiddies,” Tony said as the time ticked closer to the 10 minutes the Soldier had promised him. He didn’t think he was the type to be late.

-

Natasha wanted to go back in to find Steve, but Clint held her back. At exactly 10 minutes there was an echoing boom that made the floor surrounding Macy’s shudder under their feet.

Two minutes later, The Soldier appeared, Steve’s unconscious body slung over his shoulder. As he carried him out it was clear something more than an EMP had happened, the slightly singed smell tinting the air, spoke to that.

“He needs to be checked for smoke inhalation and to have his head scanned, it looks like he took a serious knock to his head. He regained consciousness for a brief moment, but then passed out again,” he reported in a monotone voice, handing Steve off to the EMTs standing near the entrance. He glanced up at the three of them before holding his arms out, wrists closed together. “Take me in, I won’t resist.”

“Natasha, don’t you have somewhere to be?” Clint said, throwing her the box the Soldier had chucked him earlier.

“You’re right, Barton, I definitely do.” She stalked off towards a waiting SHIELD car, where Fury could be seen gesturing for her to hurry up.

The Soldier looked up at that, shocked that he wasn’t already in cuffs.

“Let’s not pretend cuffs would hold you anyway, right? Do me a favor, get in that ambulance, and make sure it gets to Avengers Tower. We’ve got medics on staff and someone will be there. Can’t really trust anyone else right now, but I know you’ll make sure Steve gets back to Jimmy.” Clint ordered.

The Soldier drew a sharp breath in relief as he bounded into the back of the ambulance, wary look on his face.

“Stark?” Clint asked as Iron Man lifted off.

“I’m going to follow them, make sure they get back safely, then I’ll head back here. You ok to man the circus while I’m gone?”

“Really funny, Stark. Really funny.”

-

Steve regained consciousness in the back of the ambulance. Thinking he was still trapped, he threw his arm out to push the person tending to him away, while sitting bolt upright.

“What you think you’re doing, punk?” Bucky said, as he pushed Steve back down gently to the gurney, hand on Steve’s chest as Bucky held him there and stood guard between Steve and the medic. “You’re ok, Steve, he was just trying to check your stupid head out.”

Steve calmed. Bucky was here. He could feel the tears well at the corner of his eyes and hoped he could pass it off as a concussion.

Bucky’s eyes softened at the sight, and he moved his hand up slowly, cupping Steve’s cheek.

“Hey now, no need for that,” he said, wiping away the single bead of moisture that escaped.

Bucky pulled away and gestured for the medic to come back and finish his inspection.

Steve watched as Bucky settled into a looming pose, leaning against the ambulance doors, not taking his eyes from Steve’s.

Steve’s eyes slipped closed—whatever hit him had really left a lasting impression—his head was still ringing. Although it paled in comparison to what his heart was doing.

Steve heard JARVIS’ voice as they entered the underground parking bay at Avengers Tower and opened his eyes as the doors opened, only to find Bucky gone, and the EMT with a startled look on his face.

Steve closed his eyes again, instinctively knowing that Bucky wouldn’t be back any time soon.

-

Christmas morning found a tired group of Avengers, plus Sam, Jimmy and Pepper sitting around the living space in Avengers Tower at a slight loss.

“Well, we saved Christmas,” Tony announced to the room. “I think that means pancakes for breakfast.”

Natasha had returned late into the night, Fury in tow, as they watched the fall out of uncovering HYDRA in SHIELD. They’d explained that Fury hadn’t realized the extent of the infiltration until Natasha had turned up with evidence and a solution. Luckily, on Christmas Eve the NYC SHIELD Headquarters had been practically empty, a small number of both HYDRA and non-HYDRA operatives had been left guarding the place, making it easy for them to slip into the mainframe room and use Fury’s alpha-level clearance to start proceedings. They found out that the finger and eye the Soldier had given them belonged to Alexander Pierce, which had shaken Fury, but they’d finished their task and made a quick getaway, having to take out a group of HYDRA in SHIELD uniforms who had attacked on their way out.

So here they were. The world was sort of saved, and yet in total disarray The country had come alive as hunt for HYDRA began, true SHIELD agents joining the forces of other governmental bodies to track the Nazi scum down and make them pay.

It was going to be a long slog in the months ahead to set things right, and to free SHIELD—or whatever was left after this—of the hold HYDRA had on them. But they’d made a start. They knew what they were facing now and that was a better place to be by far.

The team spent the morning fielding calls and helping where they could with intelligence. Tony set JARVIS to plowing through the files that had been released from the sub-network. But, in between it all, they managed to gather together to share a Christmas meal, bonded in a way only saving the world could do.

Steve had spent much of the day wishing Bucky hadn’t disappeared before they could have talked, before Natasha took him aside and handed him a printed file that she’d put together with some limited knowledge of what had been done to Bucky and what Bucky had done as the Winter Soldier. She had warned against him reading it, but he had to know. He’s spent a while sitting in utter horror at the terrible things that had befallen his best friend, reaffirming his vow that he’d do whatever was in his power to find Bucky and keep him safe.

When he’d taken Jimmy off to settle him down for a nap (on the floor Tony had graciously gifted him as his Christmas present). He was ready to settle in for a night of painful recriminations only to be stopped short at the sight of a small brown paper package on his bed, wrapped up with string like he’d exchanged with Bucky time and time before.

He’d opened it before even thinking to get JARVIS to scan it, finding a bag of Snow Caps and a notebook that Bucky had hastily scribbled on. He promised he’d come back, and for right now Steve would have to deal with that reality, no matter how painful it felt.

-

Bucky regretted running the second he left the ambulance, but knowing Steve was safe in Avengers Tower, he couldn’t bring himself to stay. The peaceful look on Steve’s face was comforting, but Bucky knew that sticking around would only bring more pain. Now that Steve was safe, he could feel the guilt creeping up, ready to consume him, and he needed to get out of there. He needed to leave Steve, for his own good.

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t come back though, he thought. He had to atone for what he’d done, but hopefully, one day he could make his way back to Steve. One day, when he didn’t feel like he was going to fall apart at the seams.

He was going to disappear, he had plenty of leads for tracking down HYDRA to make them pay for what they’d done, but, as he was casually making his way away from the Tower, an old fashioned candy store caught his eye.

Bucky thought, as he easily gained entry to the store and left a handful of crumpled notes on the counter before helping himself to a bag of Snow Caps, that this minor indiscretion really wouldn’t add much to his tally of wrongdoings.

Getting into the Tower to plant the bag had been easier than anticipated. The arm had a short-range sensor disruptor that helped him sneak up to the restricted floors of the living quarters. He figured he had someone looking out for him, when a quick recon found a partially open door, leading to a room with a familiar shield propped against the wall.

He’d written out a note for Steve, trying to explain as best he could why it was impossible for him to stick around. As soon as the Widow leaked the HYDRA files, and he had no doubt that she would, the world would know all about him, he couldn’t let that history taint Steve. And he needed time for himself, to figure out who he was now that the immediate threat was over and years of memories of his and the Assets where clashing together. He had a mountain of shit to atone for, and he couldn’t bear the thought of being near Steve or around Jimmy when he had so much blood on his hands. The thought made him sick to his stomach.

He found a bedroom that had actually seen use, a duffle bag of clothes neatly sitting next to it, and set the parcel down, it would have to do for now. It wasn’t nearly as much as Steve deserved from him. Before he could doubt himself, he picked topmost shirt out of the duffle, stashing it under his jacket and making a quick exit.

-

Bucky’s resolve to stay away lasted all of a week and a half, in that time he’d aided and abetted the task force tidying HYDRA’s messes up in a number of ways. He’d taken down a response unit based in the Brooklyn docks, leaving the ones he hadn’t had to kill in self-defense, securely tied and waiting for the cops. He’d covertly slipped a file containing paper documentation linking a well-known senator to his illegal HYDRA activities, when it appeared he was slipping under the radar.

He’d cursed a blue streak when, stalking out a high level base, the Avengers had executed an attack. Bucky stuck around to watch Steve’s back, taking out a few HYDRA agents who got too close. Steve looked around wildly trying to spot him but ultimately had been dragged back into the fray. Bucky had stuck around for long enough to see them all exit the building in one piece before getting out of there. He could already see Steve sprinting to his location and was gone by the time Steve would have got there.

That all came crashing down when, nine days after he had left, received a picture message of Steve. Though how Romanov had got his number was beyond him. Steve’s face was puffy, in the way it always got when he’d been failing not to cry, staring down at a photo of Bucky. His resolve to escape crumbled in an instant, as much as he wanted to stay away to protect Steve, he couldn’t bear the thought that Steve was hurting like that because of him. He wanted to be there to comfort him.

So, despite his best intentions, he made his way back to Steve.

-

The second time Bucky tried to sneak into the Tower, he was met with much better resistance. His first time must have tipped Stark off, he’d clearly tightened his protocols.

He still managed to get past the front desk, but quickly encountered the Black Widow, casually leaning against a wall, waiting for him to join her.

“’Bout time you showed up,” she said, standing up to join him. “Steve’s holding it together, but I really can’t take another day of Captain Sad Pants. Before I let you up there, you need to give me some assurances.”

He nodded in agreement, following as she led the way to an empty conference room.

“Don’t look so worried, if I was going to hurt you, it would have been when I found your hide out in Soho. Steve’s compromised when it comes to you, so I need to know what you’re planning to do. You’ve helped with HYDRA, that’s for sure, but that doesn’t mean we know that you’re trustworthy.”

Bucky huffed out a laugh. “Lady, I am the last thing from trustworthy. My mind’s a mess and it won’t be long until someone uncovers the truth about the Winter Soldier from those files, but I know I’m Bucky, and I know that there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do to keep Steve safe.”

“What happened to you?” she asked. “One minute you’re the Soldier, the next Bucky Barnes. What happened?”

“It’s not that simple. I’m still the Soldier, but I’m Bucky as well. The training, all that was done to me is there, just beneath the surface telling me how I could get out of here in 20 seconds, where the structural weaknesses in the building are, how far to the nearest egress. But it’s like I’ve been put back in control of my own thoughts. And, I don’t know how. Steve kissed me, and boom, everything I’d known, everything from back before the fall came slamming back into my head. No idea why.”

“I guess true love’s kiss just got a bit of credibility, sleeping prince awoken from decades of slumber. Well, I’m sure being brainwashed counts as sleep in some way. Ok, promise me one thing.”

“If I can.”

“If you go up there, you and Steve make friends again and all is well, there’s probably going to be a time when you want to run. There was for me, anyway. Just, if you have to go, let him know. I, I abandoned Clint after he risked a lot to bring me in from the cold, and it hurt him a lot more than I ever imagined it could.” Natasha refused to make eye contact as she spoke.

“You’re showing an awful lot of trust in me right now.” Bucky stated candidly.

“Not in you. In Steve. Steve is one of the best people I know, even compromised I’d trust his judgment, so if he thinks you’re worth it, I’m willing to give you a chance. But it will only be one chance.”

“Understood,” Bucky said following Natasha as they both made their way up to Steve’s floor, his stomach in knots.

-

Steve was taking out his frustrations in the Tower’s gym for the third time in as many days when JARIVS announced that Natasha was waiting for him in his rooms. He headed off to meet her, still lost in his head. He’d been preoccupied with helping the authorities trying to track down rogue HYDRA agents, trying to track down Jimmy’s mom, and trying to track down Bucky. He’d had success with the first, found some leads on the second, but the third was proving to be elusive well beyond Steve’s means.

He was still trying to work through the fact that Bucky, not just The Winter Soldier was back, and that he’d left him again. Some days he managed to convince himself that Bucky was just doing what he thought was best, but that didn’t help with the aching that Steve felt. For someone who had been gone for so long, Steve missed him like a raw open wound.

He had the gym, and he’d settled in the Tower much more easily than expected—it helped that Pepper had designed his floor—and it felt welcoming and homely and welcoming rather than the sharp moderness of the shared areas. It also helped that Natasha and Clint had taken up permanent residence as well, just until things settled down, and while Sam had returned to DC, they’d been keeping in contact. It helped, but it still didn’t fix the pain. He’d been trying to keep his suffering to himself, he knew that he was failing on that front, but it seemed like the only thing holding him together.

At least he’d had Jimmy to keep him company on the long nights when sleep was just as elusive as Bucky was, he thought to himself as he climbed up to his floor.

Steve walked through his door and stopped in his tracks. Natasha shot him a fond smile before quickly sauntering towards him.

“Got you something from the lobby,” she said as she patted his arm, left the room, quietly shutting the door.

Steve couldn’t move.

Bucky moved for him, Steve watched as he slowly made his way across the room, stopping when he got within touching distance.

“Hey Stevie,” he said softly.

“Bucky,” Steve said only to have to shudder in a breath.

“The one and only, that I know of,” he said.

“God, don’t joke about that.” Steve couldn’t cope with the thought of multiple Buckys. He was barely coping with just the one of him.

Bucky reached out a hand, Steve wasted no time, grabbing it and pulling him into a hug. Burying his face in Bucky’s shoulder and taking a moment to just hold him close.

“You’re staying, right?” he muttered into the shoulder, not quite ready to look up.

Bucky brought his metal arm around Steve’s back, securing him in place, and threaded the other in the hair at the back of Steve’s head, holding him as close as Steve could ever want to be.

“For as long as I can,” Bucky promised.

They stood for a long moment, embracing and relearning how it felt to be in each other’s space. It felt so different from the timid connection he had shared with Bucky as Tommy and a world away from their closeness from before the war.

Steve finally lifted his head up, resting his forehead against Bucky’s, content just to be sharing the same space with him.

Bucky sucked in a sharp breath and was about to say something when JARVIS announced that Pepper was returning with a screaming Jimmy.

The pair sprung apart and had collected themselves by the time Pepper knocked on the door. She didn’t seem shocked to see Bucky, so Steve assumed Natasha had spread the word.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Jimmy wouldn’t settle. I thought I’d better bring him back.”

Steve took Jimmy from her, smiling when his crying started to calm. She made her excuses and left after exchanging polite but awkward hellos with Bucky, and extending an invitation for them both to join her and Tony for lunch.

Steve, Jimmy, and Bucky settled on one of the comfy sofas, before Bucky started to speak.

“Steve, I don’t really know what’s going to happen in the future.” He said.

“No one really does, Buck. We’ll face it together though.” Steve smiled at Bucky, it wasn’t going to be easy, but with Bucky by his side, Steve had always felt there was nothing he couldn’t do.

-

From that point, they fell into an uneasy rhythm. Bucky tried his best to stay, but some days the warring feelings became too much. He was always fighting the same battle within himself, one side pounding him with guilt at staying so close when he was such a monster, the other crying out in pain at the thought of leaving. He’d leave, sometimes when it got to be too much, but he told Steve before he did, and he always came back.

Some days they’d talk about the old times, other days Bucky throat clogged with the memory of what he’d done, and sometimes they’d just co-exist in an echo of their old life together.

No matter what mood found them in, or what the day had them doing – hunting down HYDRA, playing with Jimmy, stopping Tony from making a mini replica suit for a baby – Steve was supportive as best he could be. At times they were both skittish, unwilling and uneager to broach any of the harder topics that they’d need to talk through.

The kiss that they shared had stayed a topic they avoided all together. Bucky treasured the memory of it, but he couldn’t force himself to start that conversation with Steve. He was half convinced that the only reason Steve had kissed him was to maintain his cover. Bucky didn’t dare to hope for anything more than that one kiss, and was reluctant to push for anything else, knowing in his heart that he truly didn’t deserve Steve, not after everything he’d done.

The other main problem came in a striped onesie and was currently squealing in delight as Steve tickled him. Bucky smiled at the sight. Steve playing with a baby in a nice apartment was something Bucky had only let himself dream about when he was so drunk he couldn’t stop thoughts of what it would be like if he could keep Steve, rather than just look after him until some dame swept him off his feet.

Bucky had never been under the delusion that Steve was something he could have, it hadn’t stopped him from imagining them in a situation like this then, and it wasn’t now. He wished that this could be a possibility for them. It would have been so much simpler. But even if Steve shared his feelings, the kids and the picket fence would never be something he could allow himself. Not after he had taken that away from so many, even if his heart sung at the thought.

Bucky had spent the last few days doing something that he knew was going to break Steve’s heart. He’d found Jimmy’s mom. His real name was Nicholas Addison, his mom was Alison and she was heartbroken over having to give her baby up. Bucky had tracked her down only to find a tragic tale: she’d moved to New York to try and start a new life with her baby. Things had been going fine until she’d lost her job. Bucky had snuck into her apartment one day after watching Alison cry herself to sleep the night before. Her diary was full of pure misery at missing her son and praying that she’d done the right thing. The only thing she could think of to give him a better life.

Bucky knew he had to tell Steve. Natasha had taken him aside, she’d figured out where Bucky had been going, and gave him until the end of the day to break the news.

He did so as gently as possible. Steve put up a good act, happy that they’d been able to find Jimmy’s mom, and hopeful that they could help her get to a place where she could provide for him. Bucky wasn’t quite sure how the Addisons’ were going to cope with the adopted family Jimmy was going to come home with, but he knew that it would all work out for the best. Once Steve’s heart got over the loss.

-

Steve was hurting.

Nicholas, a name that was taking him some getting used to, was back home with his mom, where he belonged. They’d contacted Alison yesterday, who’d come running to the Tower in floods of tears of joyous delight at seeing her boy again.

Steve explained the situation, though he thought it best to leave out the part where he’d kept Jimmy for mission purposes, even though he was still tinged through with guilt at the thought.

Nicholas had been in raptures to be reunited with his mom and wouldn’t be separated from her for more than a second.  

Alison didn’t stop crying from the moment she took Nicholas back in her arms. They’d sat down with her and offered assistance, Pepper had a number of vacancies that she was looking to fill, and Clint had a rent-controlled apartment. At first she’d been overwhelmed and refused, she didn’t want their pity. But Steve sat with her, and had convinced her that this was for Nicholas, he begged her to accept their gratitude, as Steve confessed to how much having Nicholas had helped him.

She was touched at Steve’s words and the depth of affection he had for Nicholas, and soon agreed to accept their help. She even timidly asked Steve if he’d like to visit Nicholas, once they’d gotten themselves settled. 

By the time the tears had stopped, Alison had mentioned that she should probably make her way home, and Steve had panicked at the thought.

Steve collected a bag of his things and handed them over, about to tell Alison their routine, when he realized that she’d have one of her own. She didn’t need Steve telling her. He escorted the pair down to the car Tony had called for them, getting Nicholas fastened in slowly and saying his goodbyes.

He’d made a hasty retreat and found Bucky waiting for him on their couch. He’d sank down next to him, closer than they’d been in a while, and Bucky held him as he broke. It wasn’t Jimmy going home that did it, but knowing that Jimmy was safely back with his mom gave Steve the emotional release to mourn all of the things he’d never get to have. His brief stint as a William King was finally over.  

-

Steve hadn’t slept that night, so neither had Bucky. He’d stayed with him, like he’d promised to do, and held his hand when the sobs had subsided.

He left Steve on the couch to make them some breakfast, returning with a pot of coffee and plate of toast and butter that he set on the coffee table in front of them.

“You going to eat something, pal?” he asked, the words achingly familiar from the times he’d nursed Steve through ill health.

“I’m fine, Buck, don’t fuss,” Steve replied, exactly the same way he always had.

Bucky sat next to Steve, rubbing at his shoulder to get his attention.

“I know that Jimmy being gone is sad, but he’s back with his mom. And you’ll still get to visit.” Bucky tried to be conciliatory, to no use.

“And hey, you know that you can look after a kid now. You just need to find the right partner, and you can have it all, wife, kids, white picket fence – the lot.”

Bucky thought Steve had never mentioned wanting kids, but then again, there were a lot of things Steve refused to acknowledge when he was 95lbs of anger. Maybe that would help.

“With you?” Steve asked after a long moment of looking Bucky in the eyes.

It took a minute for Bucky to realize what he meant. He guessed they were finally going to talk about the kiss.

“What?” he huffed out, pretending not to get it. He couldn’t talk about that, because he’d have to tell Steve no.

“Can I have that with you?” he repeated intently.

“Steve,” Bucky sighed out, running his hands through his hair. He couldn’t take the look in Steve’s eyes. “You can have me, if you want me. All of me, whatever you want. But I can’t have kids.”

“Well, Buck, I wasn’t expecting you to carry them.” Came the smart-ass reply. Steve’s eyes took on a familiar steely glint. “You’ve always wanted kids.”

“I’m a fucking menace to society, Steve, its bad enough that I won’t leave you alone, but I can’t bring a kid into it. You can protect yourself, but a kid would be a target, all its life. And, I don’t. I don’t get to have what I’ve taken away from so many. I’ve always wanted you, but we don’t always get what we want.” Bucky got up and paced away from Steve.

Steve followed him, swinging him around so they were face to face.

“Bucky, you deserve to have those things as well. But, if you can’t, then _we_ won’t. You’re right, we don’t always get what we want, but sometimes we get what we need. And unless you tell me right here and now that you don’t want me, don’t need me the same way I need you, then we’re each other’s, ‘til the end of the line.” Bucky stared. He couldn’t lie to Steve, couldn’t deny him this.

“’til the end of the line,” he repeated. Words he’d once spoken to assure Steve he would always be there for him, reaffirming his promise to stay.

Bucky glanced down at Steve’s lips. That seemed to be answer enough, Steve pulled him in to a searing kiss, one hand on the back of his neck, the other clinging to his side.

In their first kiss, Steve had thrown off 70 years of brainwashing and torture, so Bucky wasn’t expecting this one to be as all consuming, but he was wrong.

Bucky gripped Steve’s hip, pulling him closer as Steve deepened the kiss. Bucky didn’t deserve this, but there was no way he could give Steve up. They staggered backwards, hitting the kitchen counter, causing them to both groan out loud as their hardening dicks were pushed together.

Bucky panted into Steve’s mouth that they should slow down, but Steve looped one arm under Bucky’s thighs and hoisted him onto the counter in answer to that. Bucky opened his legs and pulled Steve back into contact with him, drawing him into another deep open mouthed kiss.

He had to brace his metal arm against the table as Steve pushed forward, trying to be closer, one hand on Bucky’s ass, setting the pace as they rutted against each other. Bucky threw his head back in a moan, and Steve used his free hand to rip open the collar of Bucky’s shirt, sucking kisses into his neck and down his chest.

Bucky reached down to open Steve’s jeans, pushing them and his briefs down as best he could, before trying to open his own, struggling to get them off. Steve, noting his predicament, simply lifted him up with the hand that was on his ass while Bucky quickly shucked them off.

Pushing himself forward, so they were back in contact, Bucky grabbed their cocks, bringing them together as their hips rolled.

Bucky sought Steve’s mouth, groaning into the kiss as he felt the heavy pulsing of Steve’s dick in his hand. He decided they needed a change in position, and quickly executed a move that had Steve’s sprawled out on the counter instead.

Bucky took in the sight of Steve, spread across the kitchen counter, jeans down to his knees while he panted at Bucky to come back. He couldn’t wait to do this again, and again with Steve. He launched himself up to the counter, landing half on Steve as he slotted his thigh between his legs, thrusting as Steve rubbed against his thigh. He kissed Steve again, pulling his shirt up, but not quite off, just far enough that he could get to his nipples, which he began to rub and pinch, sending Steve into a frenzy.

Bucky dragged Steve’s hand back to his ass, letting Steve set the pace as they rubbed together. Bucky moved his mouth down to lick and bite at Steve’s tits, having to hold on as Steve nearly bucked him off when he did so.

As Steve’s whines got louder, he reached down and stroked Steve’s cock, at the same time as he as he bit Steve’s right nipple. Steve wailed as he bucked up one last time, coming across his chest and smearing it over Bucky as he moved back to kiss Steve through his release.

Steve shuddered through his orgasm for a second, before he moved and pinned Bucky back underneath him, stroking Bucky’s cock in a perfect grip. Bucky was already on the edge after watching Steve come apart, and didn’t take long to follow. Listening to Steve curse at how hot that was and how amazing Bucky was and how he couldn’t wait to spend the rest of their lives together, he trembled through his own release.

The held each other close on the counter while catching their breath, idly stroking and touching each other and smiling. Once they’d both recovered from the aftershocks, Steve hopped off of Bucky and the counter, refusing to make eye contact. Bucky quickly jumped down after him and pulled him back close, winding his metal arm around his back to get a firm grip on his ass, and using his other to tilt Steve’s head up to place a sweet kiss on his lips.

Bucky, pulled Steve to his side, walking them both to the master bathroom.

They still had a lot of stuff to clean up, but they’d do it together.


End file.
